Comparison of needs of homeless clients during 1. and 2. wave of COVID 19 pandemic in Praha 8.

This master's thesis focuses on the analysis and comparison of the needs of people experiencing homelessness in the municipal district of Prague 8 during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the thesis is to examine how the needs of this population changed in response to the differing conditions of the individual pandemic waves from the perspectives of both people experiencing homelessness and outreach social workers. The study is grounded in theoretical approaches to social work with people experiencing homelessness, selected theories of human needs, and Czech as well as international research addressing the needs of homeless populations. The empirical part is based on a qualitative research strategy using semi-structured interviews with people experiencing homelessness and outreach social workers operating in the Prague 8 area. The analysis of the collected data made it possible to identify stable categories of needs, the overall structure of which did not change significantly between the individual pandemic waves; however, changes in the intensity of these needs were observed. A specific finding was the emergence of a new category of needs, pandemic- related hygienic needs, which arose in direct connection with the crisis and the implemented public health measures. The...