Caritas - Poverty Investigation

Situations in life and impact of poverty on clients of the German
Caritas. Topics: 1. Survey of visitor to Caritas: initiator of visit to
Caritas facility; distance between Caritas facility and place of
residence; time of first visit to facility; information on person and
housing situation; residential status; rent costs; additional costs;
payer of rent costs; frequency of late rent payments; residential
furnishings; size of residence; amount of housing benefit or rent
subsidy; living in communal housing or homes; primary type of income;
money available after deduction of housing and care costs;

information on income situation, assets situation and financial
burdens; debts; circumstances that can lead to special financial
burdens; economic situation of parental home during childhood and
youth; social origins; school and occupational training; current
unemployment; regional mobility, possible concessions and personal
initiative to find a job; offers and measures of the employment office;
most important measure to improve occupational possibilities; frequency
of offer of new jobs; receipt of earnings-related unemployment benefit
or unemployment benefit; description of occupational situation before
loss or giving up last full-time job; intent to take up employment in
the near future; occupation and employment biography; frequency of
change of job; entire duration of unemployment; unemployment of other
persons in household; for single-parents person providing care; extent
of support payments to household; arrears in support payments; time
required until first payment of support due; reason for arrears in
support payments; current judicial procedure to ascertain fatherhood or
right to support payments; receipt of support advances; extent of
support advances; conduct when right to support advance runs out;
perceived relief from support advance; welfare receipt; length and
extent of welfare; further welfare recipients in household; rejected
applications for one-time payment for clothing or household equipment;
protest against the rejection; judgement on economic situation before
receipt of help for cost of living; major reasons for welfare receipt;
receipt of personal help from the social services office; major reasons
for termination of receipt of welfare; most important social contacts
to get away from welfare; knowledge about the right to welfare; most
important reasons to forego the right to welfare; experience with
welfare, with authorities; judgement on contact with authorities
(scale); presence of health insurance as well as retirement insurance;
size of circle of relatives; classification of economic conditions of
relatives, friends as well as neighbors and classification of relation
with these groups of persons; financial and personal difficulties in
the last year and persons or institutions that helped through financial
support as well as personal advice; characterization of psychological
and somatic condition of health; change of occupation due to illness or
disability; satisfaction in selected areas of life, such as e.g.
health, income, housing, family life, church and Caritas (scale);
general contentment with life (scale); experiences with Caritas;
improvement desires and requirements of Caritas; future expectation. 2.
Statement of Caritas worker about client: person accompanying client on
visit to Caritas and entire contact time with client in the last year;
average time per visit; type of city; nationality and legal status of
client; length of residence in Western Germany; characterization of
special situation of client; disability or need of care of client;
problem profile of client; help provided for client by Caritas
facility; support of client with conflicts with authorities and
conflicts with private individuals; sending on to authorities and
placing in communal housing; willingness of client to cooperate in oral
survey and classification of reliability of responses.