Photoelicitation: a useful tool to investigate management of the vulnerability of homeless women.

AIMS: The proposal of the manuscript is to provide a methodological reflection on the use of photo-elicitation as a data gathering strategy to explore vulnerability management among homeless women.

METHODS: A grounded theory study was carried out. Photo elicitation was one of the data gathering techniques used between February 2015 and February 2017. Five women were selected through intentional sampling. All of them were over 18 years old and residents in 4 shelters within the Madrid Care for the Homeless network. Participants used disposable cameras or mobile phones to record their experiences living in the shelters or on the street through photographs. An interview was conducted with each participant in order to explore the meaning of the photos after they were developed. Data analysis comprised, firstly, describing the obvious content of the photos and, secondly, comparing it with the latent content provided by participants during the interviews.

RESULTS: Only 3 women finished the task. Through data analysis some theoretical proposals were discovered, which contributed to a deeper knowledge of some previously established categories and subcategories such as: "The good professionals", "The safe places in the street" and "The threats in the street".

CONCLUSIONS: Photo-elicitation enabled an approach to participants' experiences with minimal imposition, allowing them much of the control over the data production. However, it is a demanding technique that requires deep reflection before its implementation, on the part of both participants and researchers.