Interventions for youth homelessness: A systematic review of effectiveness studies

Tackling exclusion: A pilot mixed method quasi-experimental identity capital intervention for young people exiting homelessness

“…Immediately after participating in the six-week, six-session intervention, Group One had statistically significant improvements and large to very large effect sizes in self-esteem and physical community integration compared to Group Two, which had not yet begun the intervention. This was not a surprise given many interventions with this population demonstrate short-term positive impacts [10]. However, in the pooled analysis, small to moderate effect sizes in hopelessness, physical community integration, and self-esteem were observed at all post-intervention time points, with statistically significant improvements and moderate effect sizes in hopelessness and self-esteem at six-and nine-months post-intervention.…”

“…A recent pan-Canadian survey of 1,100 youth who were experiencing or had experienced homeless found that only a small number had completed secondary education (21%) or participated in post-secondary education (12%), a large number (53%) had dropped out of secondary education, and the majority (76%) reported at least two separate episodes of homelessness (and of those, 37% reported more than five episodes of homelessness) [43]. While we cannot say that our education-and housingrelated findings were due to the intervention, these trajectories were encouraging and an important contribution given the significant gap in the peer-reviewed youth homelessness intervention literature on targeting these outcomes [10]. In addition, analysis of the aforementioned pan-Canadian survey showed that participants who reported more episodes of homelessness were significantly more likely to self-identify as a "homeless youth" [44], giving credence to our hypothesis on the relationship between identity capital and socioeconomic inclusion, and highlighting the underexplored link between identity and chronic homelessness.…”

“…However, in the pooled analysis, small to moderate effect sizes in hopelessness, physical community integration, and self-esteem were observed at all post-intervention time points, with statistically significant improvements and moderate effect sizes in hopelessness and self-esteem at six-and nine-months post-intervention. These latter time points are important as reviews of interventions with young people who are experiencing or have experienced homelessness show longer-term, post-intervention follow-up is rarely achieved [10,38]. Also, the sustained improvements specific to hopelessness and self-esteem are noteworthy given previous longitudinal studies with youth exiting homelessness have shown that these outcomes tend to get worse over time [3,4].…”

“…It is challenging to situate our study among other interventions studies with this population because of the heterogeneity of the studies (e.g., different outcomes and self-report scales) and because the majority these studies include-often exclusively-young people who are still experiencing homelessness (see recent review by Morton et al [10]). Additionally, as noted by our study participants, interventions with this population tend to primarily focus on treating mental health or targeting behavior change (e.g., substance use) [7,9,10], not specifically targeting identity capital. That said, there are some transferrable comparisons.…”

“…Findings from the handful of longitudinal studies examining the life-trajectories of young people after they have become "successfully housed" are concerning-most remain socially and economically excluded, struggle to shake off identities of homelessness, and just one misstep away from returning to the streets [3][4][5]. Moreover, evidence-based solutions designed with the primary aim of addressing inclusion-related challenges among this population are scarce [6][7][8][9][10].…”