The Burden of Care: A Phenomenological Inquiry Into the Lived Experiences of Homeless Shelter Administrators Leading Through the Pandemic and Lasting Implications on Program Operations

The theories guiding this study are Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, conflict theory, and complex systems theory, which explain the relationship between the theory and resource limitations and acquisition, systems, and nature of acquiring human needs. The purpose of this phenomenological study is to describe homeless shelter administrators'/directors' experiences delivering services during the COVID-19 pandemic on the Eastern Coast of the United States and Texas. It further seeks to unravel how the pandemic informed the delivery of services and program administration related to homeless shelters and its impacts. The research questions sought to understand the impact of COVID-19 on delivering services and how the homeless shelters' administrators/directors describe their experiences during the pandemic. The semi-structured interviews took place online via Microsoft Teams. Participants were selected from shelters on the East Coast and from the Dallas, Texas, area. Ten to fifteen program administrators and directors who served in leadership positions of homeless programs before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and still serving in those roles during the post-pandemic era were recruited. Purposeful sampling strategies guided the recruitment process, including homogeneous, criterion, and snowball approaches. Recruitment occurs after Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, and semi-interviews are scheduled. NVIVO was used for the data analysis, and the findings presented thematic data. The results demonstrate how the data answers the research questions and contributes to the current body of literature. Presentation of the results. Eliciting participants for the study, collecting data, and recording.