View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Tennessee, Knoxville: Trace University of Tennessee, Knoxville Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 12-2007 For a Moment I Feel Free: Homeless Women and a Garden-Based Learning Program Catherine Ann Pierce University of Tennessee - Knoxville Recommended Citation Pierce, Catherine Ann, "For a Moment I Feel Free: Homeless Women and a Garden-Based Learning Program. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2007. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/266 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Catherine Ann Pierce entitled "For a Moment I Feel Free: Homeless Women and a Garden-Based Learning Program." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Education. Mary F. Ziegler, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Sandra Thomas, Katherine Greenberg, Susan Hamilton Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Catherine Ann Pierce entitled “For a Moment I Feel Free: Homeless Women and a Garden-Based Learning Program.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Education. Mary F. Ziegler Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Sandra Thomas Katherine Greenberg Susan Hamilton Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) “For a Moment I Feel Free”: Homeless Women and a Garden-Based Learning Program A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Catherine Ann Pierce December 2007 Copyright © 2007 by Catherine A. Pierce ii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to all the women at The Lord’s Place West Palm Beach, Florida Family Shelter who so generously shared their time and stories with me. I wish the best that life has to offer for each of you and your families. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people to thank for their contributions to this dissertation. Above all, I thank the homeless women who participated in this study and the administrators and staff at The Lord’s Place. I am forever grateful to my teacher, mentor, and friend Linda Seals for her unwavering support, kindness, and enthusiasm for this study. This dissertation would not exist without their cooperation and support. A special thanks to my daughter, Jennifer Winton. Your tender love and unstinting support have enriched my life in many ways. I appreciate your love, patience, acceptance, and generosity of spirit. I am also grateful to my Major Professor, Dr. Mary Ziegler, for her unwavering support and encouragement. Words cannot express my appreciation for a teacher such as Mary who is dedicated to the success of her students. I am deeply indebted to the members of my committee for their contributions to this study and their support of me throughout my graduate studies. Dr. Katherine Greenberg set the project in motion when she assigned a 20-page research paper. Dr. Sandra Thomas guided me through the development of the original version of my dissertation proposal. Dr. Susan Hamilton generously shared her knowledge of garden- based learning. It was great to work with a committee that showed as much excitement for the research as I did. I am grateful for Dr. Ralph Brockett who led me through the pilot study and activities related to the development of the therapeutic horticulture program and helped make them a success. iv I also want to express my gratitude to Dr. Dent Davis for granting me permission to use his curriculum philosophy in the development of the therapeutic horticulture program. It is hard to say who enjoys the program more - the facilitators or the learners. I want to acknowledge two special friends and colleagues who contributed to the validity of this study. Patricia Duffley-Renow served as my peer debriefer. Her searching questions prompted great insights and helped me to gain a new perspective on certain aspects of this study. Dr. Regina Curran provided inter-rater reliability and helped me to view certain themes in a new light. I feel blessed to know both of you. Finally, thanks so much to my Hawkwind family and friends for your love and prayers which have accompanied me on this long journey. Thanks also to the women of WHW for being there everyday and helping me along the way as together we trudge this road of happy destiny. v ABSTRACT A recent study conducted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2007) concluded that in January 2005 at least 754,147 people were homeless on an average day. Families with children are the fastest-growing sector of the homeless population and comprise 40% of the homeless population. Most of these families are headed by single women and reside in shelters rather than on the streets. Loss of one’s home, the conditions of shelter life, and the physical and sexual abuse that often precipitate homelessness result in diminished self-efficacy and hope. There is an urgent need to mitigate the psychological traumas faced by these homelessness families in a tangible way to help them develop increased self-efficacy and a restored sense of hope, and lend support to their efforts to escape from homelessness. The existing literature indicates that increased self-efficacy leads to improvements in academic work, predicts success in obtaining employment and permanent housing, promotes abstinence from alcohol and drug abuse, and supports effective parenting among homeless women. The literature also indicates that hope contributes to effective goal setting and the determination to actively pursue those goals, thereby lending support to homeless women’s efforts to escape from homelessness. Many authors have written about a garden as a place of transition, expectation, and hope and garden-based learning provides benefits in the intellectual/cognitive, physical, emotional/psychological, and social domains. However, little research has been conducted on the effects of participation in gardening and other horticultural activities on self-efficacy and hope among homeless individuals. vi The purpose of this study was to determine if participation in a garden-based learning program would positively influence women residing at a homeless shelter in South Florida with regard to their levels of hope and self-efficacy. This three-phase, sequential mixed method study used a combination of survey instruments and semi- structured interviews to investigate the levels of hope and self-efficacy in eight homeless women and the ability to modify these factors through a garden-based learning intervention. The overarching research question for this study was: What are the results and experiences of participation in a garden-based learning program for homeless women with regard to hope and self-efficacy? vii Table of Contents Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................... 1 Adult Education for the Homeless ..................................................................................... 3 Purpose of the Study ........................................................................................................... 4 Research Question and Hypothesis .................................................................................... 4 Theoretical Frameworks .................................................................................................... 5 Significance of the Study ................................................................................................... 7 Delimitations ...................................................................................................................... 7 Limitations ......................................................................................................................... 8 Definitions .......................................................................................................................... 8 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 9 Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Homelessness ................................................................................................................... 10 History of Homelessness ............................................................................................ 10 General ................................................................................................................. 10 Families ...............................................................................................................