Young People and Rough Sleeping in London: A Qualitative Study

Running Head: Healthcare and social scenario
Young People and Rough Sleeping in London: A Qualitative Study
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note

Young People and Rough Sleeping in London-Qualitative Study1
Introduction
Rough sleeping is part of homelessness life and it is one of the most predominant
social issues in different European countries, especially in United Kingdom. Homelessness is
increasing day by day in the social scenario of England. Due to different socio-economic
issues, homeless people are forced to live their lives on the streets of different metropolitan
cities. According to the reports of Public Health of England, there are different factors such
as lack of permanent shelter, fear of eviction, poor financial condition, lack of education for
employment and issues related to unemployment (www.gov.uk, 2020). Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) defines that the people who sleep in streets
and live maximum part of their lives in the open air for example doorways, parks, bus
shelters, can be considered as the rough sleepers (Pleace, 2018). People who have to spend
their nights in squats, campsites, car parking, stairwells are also considered as the sufferers of
rough sleep. This assignment focuses on two interviews to analyse the related themes and
emphasizes the qualitative data collected from the narratives of interviewees. The essay
analyse the central idea of “Problems of Rough Sleeping among the Young People of
England” with respect to the interviews. The socio-cultural theories with the relevant health
care issues will discussed in this essay.
Findings
The study is focused on the problems of social issues related to “young people and
rough sleeping in England”. Two interviewees are aged within 18-26 years. The participants
are suffering from rough sleeping for several years. Luke and Gemma, two participants of the
interviews have suffered from different sociological, financial and healthcare related issues
throughout their lives. Luke is a 22 year old White British and belonged from a city at
outskirts of London. On the contrary, Gemma is 24 year old woman and separated from her

Young People and Rough Sleeping in London-Qualitative Study2
little daughter. She grew up in a city in the northern England outside of London. She is from
a mixed race where one of her parents belonged to black Caribbean and other was white
British by origin. The participants have shared their experiences and different sociological
themes will be generated from the analysis of the interviews and personal opinions.
The aim of this to investigate the reasons behind the young people’s lives who are
living their lives in open air and suffering from rough sleeping. The objective of research is to
find sociological, educational, healthcare, and financial effect of rough sleeping on the
individuals with the proper recommendations.
The key themes of this research are;
Unemployment: Unemployment is one of the prominent social factors for poor lifestyle and
lack of preliminary amenities for living. The interviewees are suffering from financial crisis
and faces different circumstances in their lives.
Social Exclusion: Sociological frameworks can be affected by discrimination, involvement
of criminal activities and detachment from the society. The participants have experienced
different problems related to domestic and professional aspects.
Depression and health issues: Homeless people are affected by depression and different
health issues in various stages of their lives. The health issues are different for both the
participants and responses are also diverse from one another.
Key themes derived from the data or the transcripts of the interviewees are analysed
with the help of the given tabular format.
Respondents Transcripts Subthemes Themes

Young People and Rough Sleeping in London-Qualitative Study3
Luke “Then I got thrown off my
college course. There were
some other boys who were
picking on me ... winding me
up ... so there was this big fight
and we all got suspended and I
never went back.”
Lack of
education and
poor decision
making
Unemployment
“But they lived in this village
... right in the middle of
nowhere. It was sooooooo
boring! Nothing to do ... no
jobs ....no college ....no mates.
And I could tell they didn’t
really want me there.”
Lack of
opportunities of
adequate job
openings.
“No job, no money and a
criminal record!”
Criminal records
are problem for
the getting
employment.