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“I feel like a somebody again”: Ethics of care at a shelter for older adults fleeing abuse in Canada

February 13, 2025
Richardson, L. R., Canham, S., Weldrick, R., Hoselton, J., Grittner, A. L., Walsh, C, A. (2025). “I feel like a somebody again”: Ethics of care at a shelter for older adults fleeing abuse in Canada. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 2024(13).

Abstract  

Abuse against older adults is an under-researched pathway to older adult homelessness. This paper fills a gap through a secondary data analysis of qualitative interviews with five providers and 10 clients from a homeless shelter serving older adults fleeing abuse. Drawing on a feminist ethics of care framework, we explored the role of care in participants’ experiences of shelter life and what aging in the right place meant to them, identifying three themes: 1) cultivating trust and relationship-building between providers and clients; 2) caregiving, mutual care, and collective care among clients; and 3) lack of care and processes of repair.