Housing and Support Services with Homeless Mothers: Benefits to the Mother and Her Children

Abstract

This study reports the mental health outcomes of a small randomized clinical trial (n = 60) that compared housing and supportive services (Ecologically-Based Treatment, EBT) to community based housing and support services (treatment as usual, TAU). Mothers receiving EBT, but not those receiving TAU, reported reductions in their children's behavioral health problems. Reductions in mothers' mental health problems and intimate partner violence were observed in both TAU and EBT. The current findings provide evidence supporting the efficacy of independent housing and integrated support services. Given that EBT showed similar, and in some cases superior findings to TAU, EBT may be an effective alternative for communities that do not have shelters available for those families experiencing homelessness.

Systematic review and meta‐analyses of randomized control trials of the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for homeless adults

“…Three studies (Guo et al, ; Malte et al, ; Toro et al, ) involved case management programs. The ecologically based treatment used by Guo et al () for homeless women engaging in substance abuse integrated 26 sessions of a strength‐based case management program, 20 sessions of substance abuse and mental health counselling and independent housing support. This intervention was delivered by three clinicians over a 6‐month period.…”

“…Five studies reported an adequate method of blinding of participants and personnel and six studies clearly stated blinding of outcome assessors. Attrition bias was low in 13 studies for the following reasons: six studies reported results of intention‐to‐treat analyses (Chang et al, ; Garland et al, ; Guo et al, ; Krabbenborg et al, ; Reback et al, ; Shern et al, ); four studies reported that missing outcome data were unlikely to be related to true outcomes (Himle et al, ; Malte et al, ; Medalia et al, ; Salem et al, ); two studies imputed missing data using appropriate statistical methods (Lester et al, ; Toro et al, ) and missing outcome data were balanced in numbers across groups in one study (Upshur et al, ). Low risk of bias in selective reporting was observed in 11 studies, which reported all expected outcomes.…”

“…Figure shows the results of the meta‐analyses of the effects of psychosocial interventions by type of outcome variables. Five studies (Garland et al, ; Guo et al, ; Himle et al, ; Krabbenborg et al, ; Medalia et al, ) compared psychosocial interventions with a control condition for reducing depression. We combined a total of 518 participants (291 intervention participants and 227 control participants) using a fixed‐effects model, as mild heterogeneity was present ( I 2 = 32.4%).…”

“…Of the three studies (Guo et al, ; Malte et al, ; Toro et al, ), which provided a case management program, mental health status was evaluated in two studies (Guo et al, ; Malte et al, ) and self‐efficacy was evaluated in two studies (Guo et al, ; Toro et al, ). The pooled analysis of the two trials (Guo et al, ; Malte et al, ) examining mental health status showed no significant difference between the case management and control conditions (MD = 0.20, 95% CI −0.056–0.450, I 2 = 0.0%). The meta‐analysis of the two trials (Guo et al, ; Toro et al, ) examining self‐efficacy also revealed no significant difference in self‐efficacy between the case management and control conditions (MD = 0.25, 95% CI −0.054–0.559, I 2 = 0.0%).…”

Emotional and behavioral difficulties in children growing up homeless in Paris. Results of the ENFAMS survey

“…vaccination) to all children regardless of their parents' administrative or health care characteristics, could improve access to health care for families with psychological difficulties [77]. In particular, the structures could extend children's follow-up beyond age 6, and improve screening of parent mental health and parental difficulties [79,80]. Some studies show the effectiveness of interventions designed to develop children's psychosocial skills and parental abilities [81][82][83][84][85][86].…”