Justice and impoverished women: the ethical implications of work-based welfare

Abstract

Current U.S. welfare policy, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, requires impoverished people to work in order to receive welfare, and it limits cash support to 5 years. Most of the people who have used this program are single-parent women, and a disturbing number have been terminated at 5 years, not having made a successful transition to work. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to explore the barriers to success and the social justice of the program from the perspective of single-parent women who were terminated. In all, 41 women were recruited through community-based purposive sampling, and the primary research methods were a qualitative, narrative interview approach and narrative analysis. Data from the semistructured interview guide are reported here. Findings describe health and socioeconomic burdens, and barriers that lie within the social policy. The study has ethical implications for nursing advocacy, and it informs nursing interventions for impoverished women and their families.