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Although the foreclosure crisis is considered over, some areas of the U.S. continue to suffer from high foreclosure rates. This research presents findings from in-depth interviews conducted with 18 service providers who worked with families to prevent their foreclosures in Cleveland, Ohio. The research focused on better understanding the landscape of the Cleveland foreclosure experience. Service providers provided insight into families' experiences with the foreclosure process. The three main themes developed from the interviews included: (1) clients lacked knowledge about the mortgage process; (2) lenders exploited clients' lack of knowledge, setting them up to fail with predatory mortgages and targeting specific groups; and (3) mortgage servicers were inflexible, inconsistent, incompetent, and lacked regard for clients, except for local servicers. The findings provide implications for housing research, policy, and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This study examined the nature and characteristics of Black women's interactions with medical providers during childbirth when accompanied by a perinatal support professional (PSP; similar to a doula). Design: The design was qualitative, and a phenomenological approach was employed to examine the meaning of women's experiences. Methods: We conducted in‐depth interviews with 25 Black women enrolled in a perinatal support program in Cleveland, Ohio, in late 2017 and early 2018, exploring their interactions with medical providers, the meaning of their experiences, and the roles their PSPs played. Results: Clients broadly categorized experiences as positive or negative. When medical providers respected them, their birth plans and/or collaborated with PSPs, women reported more positive experiences. They associated negative experiences with providers having their own timelines and agendas, and women perceiving their needs were unheard and/or disrespected. Conclusion: The findings emphasize the need for medical providers to be patient‐centred, set aside assumptions, treat their patients as experts, value women's knowledge and voice, and treat patients and their supports as part of the team. Impact: Findings support the importance of having a knowledgeable but non‐medical support person present during birth. We discuss implications for how empowerment may be a tool to achieving better birth outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to conduct an exploratory qualitative study of the impact of foreclosure on health. Twenty-nine interviews were conducted with people who had children under the age of 18 years at the time of the foreclosure. Interviews explored perspectives on the foreclosure experience, including factors that led to the foreclosure, the meaning(s) the foreclosure has had for them, and the health care impact. Thematic analyses identified themes underlying families' descriptions of their experiences. Participant families described the stress of losing a home and how that had contributed to a number of psychological and physiological ailments. Psychological effects included high levels of perceived stress, anxiety, grief, and a sense of shame and failure, while physiological effects were often described as either stress-induced or existing issues worsened by stress. These findings are discussed with regard to their implications for improving services and policies offered to families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While quantitative studies have described foreclosure's correlates, and qualitative work has shed light on homeowners' experiences in general, research has not focused specifically on how families with children younger than 18 years experience foreclosure. This study was an exploratory qualitative examination of families' experiences with home foreclosure, focusing especially on the meaning(s) the foreclosure had for them. In-depth interviews were conducted with 29 adult homeowners living with children younger than 18 years during their foreclosures. The analysis revealed key themes of foreclosure threatening personal and social identity, family relationships and routines, and emotional attachment and experiences of loss. Adults tended to blame themselves for the foreclosures as opposed to seeing structural forces as responsible for their predicaments. The findings help illuminate some of the potential mechanisms underlying the negative impact of foreclosure. Understanding families' experiences is critical to formulating services and policies to help affected families regain stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports the findings from in-depth qualitative interviews with 18 service providers who worked with families facing foreclosure. The interviews' purpose was to better understand a broad range of families' experiences and inductive coding focused on quotes that reflected the meaning of those experiences. The analysis extracted three main themes related to foreclosure representing threat: (a) foreclosure threatened children's education, (b) foreclosure threatened family memories, and (c) foreclosure threatened clients' sense of self and attaining the American Dream. Providers reported that families fought to keep their homes and hoped to buy again after foreclosure. The findings suggest that social work services could be beneficial in helping families navigate the emotional and financial impact of the foreclosure experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]