Lessons from the Field. Caregivers supporting marginalized people receiving social service support from street outreach workers

• Published date: 01 October 2023
• Author: Evelien Rauwerdink‐Nijland,Linda Dries,Judith Metz,Arnoud Verhoeff,Judith Wolf
• Date: 01 October 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12744

BRIEF REPORT

Lessons from the Field. Caregivers supporting

marginalized people receiving social service support

from street outreach workers

Evelien Rauwerdink-Nijland

1,2

|Linda van den Dries

2

|

Judith Metz

1,3

|Arnoud Verhoeff

4

|Judith Wolf

2

1

Centre for Applied Research in Social Work

and Law, Amsterdam University of Applied

Sciences, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

2

Radboud University Medical Center,

Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Impuls

–Netherlands Center for Social Care

Research, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

3

Austerlitz, the Netherlands

4

Department of Sociology, University of

Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Correspondence Evelien Rauwerdink-Nijland,

Radboud University Medical Center, Radboud

Institute for Health Science, Impuls –

Netherlands Center for Social Care Research,

6525 EZ Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

Email: evelien.rauwerdink-nijland@

radboudumc.nl

Funding information

This research was financially supported by the

Adessium Foundation and Amsterdam

University of Applied Sciences.

Abstract

Objective: In this Lesson from the Field, we examine

changes in the burden experienced by caregivers of persons

who experience homelessness associated with lack employ-

ment, employability or education, and mental health chal-

lenges when the care recipient receives support from an

outreach professional known as a social street worker

(herein identified as worker). In addition, we focus on

caregivers’perception of change in the quality of their rela-

tionship with the person for whom they care and whether

the caregivers receive support from the worker.

Background: In the Netherlands, due to the transformation

toward a participation society, persons living in com-

promised circumstances must increasingly rely on care-

givers for support and shelter instead of relying on

services, such as support from social community teams.

Methods: Workers provided by a Dutch organization cov-

ering the northwest of the Netherlands gained the consent

of their clients to contact the clients’caregivers. Caregivers

were invited to participate in the research and completed

consent. A total of 111 caregivers of persons receiving sup-

port from workers completed surveys.

Results: Caregivers who had more contact with the worker

worried less about the person for whom they provided

care. No changes were found regarding tension between

caregivers and the person for whom they cared. Most care-

givers (73%) perceived positive changes in the quality of

the relationship with the person for whom they provided

care, and 52% received support from the worker.

Received: 16 March 2021Revised: 17 February 2022Accepted: 7 May 2022

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12744

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits

use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or

adaptations are made.

© 2022 The Authors. Family Relations published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of National Council on Family Relations.

1790 Family Relations. 2023;72:1790–1805.

wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare

Conclusion: Most carers did not perceive changes in their

burden, but did perceived positive changes in the quality

of the relationship with the person for whom they cared

and received support themselves.

Implications: Our study underpins the need to recognize the

caregiver’s burden of caregivers who support marginalized

people, to connect with these caregivers, and to support them.

KEYWORDS

caregiver’s burden, homeless populations, informal care, marginalized

populations, outreach work, social street work

In the Netherlands, there has been a transformation from a welfare state toward a participation

society. This transition is marked by a change in access to support services and a focus on an

active citizenship to provide support instead of professionals, with professional support only

available as a last resort. This means that people who live in compromised circumstances and

are not able to live independently must increasingly rely on the support of their family and fri-

ends instead of on professional support services.

In this Lesson from the Field, we focus on the burden of care experienced by the caregivers

who support family or friends who live in these compromised circumstances. Specifically, we

focus on caregivers of persons who are receiving contact from an outreach professional known

as a social street worker (herein identified as workers). From the perspective of the caregiver,

we examine changes in caregivers’burden before and after the persons they support came in

contact the worker. We also examine changes in the caregivers’relationship with the ones they

support and whether as caregivers they receive support from the workers themselves.

BACKGROUND

Clients of the workers

Clients of workersare often homeless, sleep in hostels or ininsecure or inadequate housing, often

change shelter (Rauwerdink-Nijland & Metz, 2020; Winarski,2004), and face a multitude of

problems for which they do not yet receive the professional support they need (Andersson, 2013;

Mikkonen et al., 2007; Rauwerdink-Nijland & Metz, 2020). These clients often have a low educa-

tional level (Rauwerdink-Nijland & Metz, 2020; Rutenfrans-Stupar et al., 2019), intellectual dis-

abilities (van Straaten, 2016), and/or experience mental health problems (e.g., depression and

anxiety) and have substance use problems (Fazel et al., 2008;Thompsonetal.,2010; van Laere

et al., 2009). Furthermore, they often have debts (Korf et al., 1999; Rutenfrans-Stupar

et al., 2019), are unemployed (Rutenfrans-Stupar et al., 2019;Tyler&Whitbeck,2004;vanLaere,

2009), involved in criminal activities (Coston & Friday, 2017;Tyler&Whitbeck,2004), and

struggle to maintain a daily routine (Mikkonen et al., 2007; Szeintuch, 2015). Many of these per-

sons experience family conflicts, rely solely on support of peers, or have no social network (Mago

et al., 2013; Mallett et al., 2009;Mayocketal.,2013;Tsaietal.,2012).

Outreach method of the workers

Social street work is a professional social work outreach method and is characterized by long-

term commitment to people in the margins of society. These workers spend most of their time

CAREGIVERS SUPPORTING MARGINALIZED PEOPLE1791