Personality Determinants Typical of Homeless People Housed at “Přístav” Facilities: Which Needs Are Shared by Both Employees and Clients, and Which Set Them Apart?

Ivo Müller

Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Utilising empirical methods, our research aims at identifying important mental determinants (personality traits) that distinguish socially marginalised persons from others deemed well-functioning in society. THEORETICAL BASE: A theoretical basis and tool used was the psychometrically conceptualised human personality. In a dimensional approach to personality, each person can be characterised by a set of numbers (a profile of scores) where each score places a person somewhere between two extreme endpoints of a given dimension/trait. METHODS: Data from the original questionnaire (PISP) administered in Salvation Army’s special-regimen housing facilities have been put through statistical analysis and properly evaluated (hypothesis testing, factor analysis). OUTCOMES: In six out of ten dimensions under consideration, a statistically significant difference (p-value <.001) has been found between targeted and control populations, namely in tested categories for arousal, self-reliance, directedness, sources of wellbeing, centre of control, and transcendence. Several dimensions cluster on a deeper personality level, forming a higher-order factor denoted here as “Involvement in what’s going on around oneself.” SOCIAL WORK IMPLICATIONS: The results presented can serve as a frame of reference for social workers in their interactions with clients, namely in identifying and attending to clients’ needs and in selectively targeting the process of individual planning.

Keywords
homeless people, personality dimensions, psychological needs, special regimen housing, factor analysis

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