HOMELESS WOMEN AND CHILDREN - THE CHALLENGE OF HEALTH PROMOTION

Women represent an ever-increasing percentage of the homeless population. Often children accompany their mothers. Care of homeless women and their children presents a challenge to all health care providers. This article describes the benefits and obstacles to the adoption of health promotion behaviors in these populations. Nurse practitioners are challenged to balance the emergent crisis-oriented needs of many health care encounters with the homeless with the profound need for these populations to develop healthy living habits. Copyright (C) 1995 by W.B. Saunders Company