An evaluation of the quality of services provided by the Integrated homeless center of the city of Athens, Greece

The phenomenon of homelessness is a major social issue that concerns modern societies. The present study deals with the issue of homelessness and analyses the level of quality of services received by the guests of the Integrated Homeless Center of the city of Athens through their level of satisfaction. In order to evaluate the satisfaction of the guests of the Centre, a quantitative survey was conducted with a non-probability convenient sample of 127 homeless people accommodated in the dormitory and the hostel of the center, using the SERVQUAL (Service Quality) questionnaire. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test showed that age was normally distributed, while the quality dimensions and time on street/Center were not, therefore non-parametric tests were used for their analysis. Specifically, the one-sample Wilcoxon, Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallis H tests (along with ANOVA for age) were employed to assess differences in the quality dimensions: a) from one value, b) in two independent groups, c) in more than two groups respectively. Spearman's correlation was used to test linear relationships between quantitative variables. The results of the survey show a high level of beneficiary satisfaction with the full range of services provided, across all five dimensions of quality. Guests with a chronic health problem seem to be less satisfied with the quality of services, while guests with a higher educational level are less satisfied with the facilitation of developing social relationships within the Centre. Τhe extent to which the staff of the Centre facilitates the development of social relationships was not rated positively.