Marta Mikołajczyk

Homelessness is one of the most important social problems in Poland. According to statistics, the number of people without a roof over their heads is steadily increasing. The scale of the phenomenon presents questions not only about the reasons but also about the scope and effectiveness of conducting activities: what are the forms of assistance dedicated to the homeless and which of them need improvement? In the article were presented definitions of terms: homeless and homelessness, there were also shown the costs incurred by the state, the main tasks for people without shelter, and suggestions of those tasks' changes.

The article discusses the issue of the sense of self–dignity of homeless people. It presents the results of researches on the dignity and dignified treatment those who have no roof over their head and the results of authors’ own research, which referes to the specific sense of self–dignity of the homeless – the problem which so far is omitted in the national literature on pedagogy, psychology or sociology. Results of the research showed that lower level of the self–dignity was more characterizing homeless women comparing to homeless men (p < 0.001). Moreover taking the place of stay of the homeless under consderation – living on the „street” vs at a „hostel” - it turned out that the „street” homeless usually have higher sense of self -dignity than homeless living in hostels and other institutions providing 24-hour assistance for this group of people (p<0.05). The time of remaining in the homelessness also demonstrated the important difference between homeless persons with the shortest and longest period of being without the roof over their heads (p<0.01). It is not possible to generalize received data to the whole population of the homeless in Poland, however it can be a base for the next examination on the larger population of the homeless.

The demographic data shows that Poland, compared to other European countries is relatively young country, face with the issue of population aging. The article presents the issue of dignity of elderly, refers to the broadly understood respect for them, ando to its specific aspect — the sense of self-dignity of seniors. Conducted research shows that neither the sex, nor the age and the domi-cile do not diferentiate statistically the sense of self-dignity of seniors participating in examina-tions. Considering Individual Dimensions measured by KPWG-3 of P. Brudek and S. Steuden it is possible to notice certain differences: the examined elderly women are attaching great significance for creating and sustaining the interpersonal relationship (of Relational Dimension) than examined man-seniors (p <0,05) what contributes to the sense of self-dignity. In the context of age of examined seniors the results indicate that along with the age growth the sense of loss of the sense of self-dignity is growing. The domicile of seniors does not determine the sense of self-dignity.