The Power of Communal Song: Resilience and Choir Participation Among Homeless and Formerly Homeless Adults

Background:The Dallas Street Choir (DSC) was founded in 2014 to offer a musical outlet for homeless and formerly homeless adults in Dallas, Texas. This study examined the relationship between length of participation in the choir and participants’ resilience in dealing with stress and coping. Despite prior research demonstrating the benefits of social support (Fitzpatrick, 2016), current interventions for mitigating the stress and poor mental health outcomes associated with homelessness tend to focus on traditional approaches (e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy and psychopharmacology). Scant attention has been paid to more novel, holistic ways of establishing social connections within homeless communities.

Methods: Data were collected using an exploratory, cross-sectional survey design. A convenience community sample of choir participants (N = 111) was recruited over three choir practices. Participants were overwhelmingly middle-aged (M = 48.66 years, SD = 11.25), African American (66.1%), male (82.9%), and single (66.1%). Of those participants that provided homeless information, some had experienced homelessness in childhood (22.5%) and most participants had experienced homelessness more than once as an adult (M = 3.77 episodes, SD = 6.10). Typical episodes of homelessness spanned many months and often several years (M = 32.52 months, SD = 48.19). Average length of time participating in the choir was about one year (M = 11.99 months, SD = 12.72). The Connor and Davidson (2003) resilience scale measured resilience with higher scores indicating greater resilience. Missing data were treating using multiple imputation. When completed, participants’ resilience scores were normally distributed (M = 52.89, SD= 16.49). Bivariate correlations and a quadratic regression analysis were used to analyze the relationship between length of DSC participation and resilience.

Results: A scatterplot and the Pearson’s product moment correlation indicated that the relationship between resilience and length of participation was non-linear. Thus, we ran a quadratic regression analysis. Results indicated that length of participation statistically significantly predicted scores on the resilience scale (B = -1.845, p = .001), although length of participation explained only 3% of the variance in resilience.

Implications: Results revealed that the resilience increased with length of choir attendance, up to a point, and then began to decline. This curvilinear relationship may be due to the fact that many participants who enter the choir are at a low point in their lives and extremely socially isolated. Thus, being in the choir initially brings social inclusion and enhanced ability to cope with the stress of street living, a finding consistent with research from Canada (Bailey & Davidson, 2002). As some participants become more stable, they may leave the choir and find housing, and those who experience the greatest difficulty managing homelessness remain with the choir for the longest periods of time. Study limitations necessitate cautious interpretation of the results, namely the community sample and small amount of variance explained. Nevertheless, innovative research such as this increasingly highlights the potential influence of social connections and sense of community in helping people to manage the stress of homelessness. Social belonging may be a first step in helping people exit homelessness.