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Support Interventions for Young People in Housing Programs: A Rapid Literature Review

Abstract

This rapid review synthesizes current original research studies concerning support interventions intended for young people who experienced homelessness and are housed through youth-focused housing programs. Peer-reviewed articles on interventions for young people between 13 and 25 years of age with experience of homelessness living in youth-focused housing published between January 2017 and May 2022 were search in Scopus, Web of Sciences, PubMed, and EBSCO. Ten articles were included in the review. Interventions examined in the reviewed literature included case management, psychosocial and mental health support interventions; social support through peer support, mentorship, and positive social networks; and socioeconomic inclusion through skill building. Evidence found in the current review provides directions for the development of promising practices.

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Acknowledgements

This study received partial funding from the Mitacs Accelerate program and Riipen’s Level UP remote internship program. All authors had access to the data and contributed to the decision to submit it for publication. The funding sponsors did not participate in the study.

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The authors have no relevant financial interests to disclose.

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Christine Stich conceptualized the literature review, contributed to study selection, risk of bias assessment, data extraction, and synthesis, and drafted the manuscript. Racha Lakrouf contributed to the study selection, and risk of bias assessment, and critically revised the manuscript. Juliane Moreau performed the literature search and contributed to study selection, risk of bias assessment, and data extraction.

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Correspondence to Christine Stich.

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Stich, C., Lakrouf, R. & Moreau, J. Support Interventions for Young People in Housing Programs: A Rapid Literature Review. J of Prevention 44, 615–637 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-023-00743-1

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