The threat of home eviction and its effects on health through the equity lens: A systematic review

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) 2017-02, Vol.175, p.199-208
• Main Authors: Vásquez-Vera, Hugo, Palència, Laia, Magna, Ingrid, Mena, Carlos, Neira, Jaime, Borrell, Carme
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anxiety; Blood pressure; Bravery; Child abuse & neglect; Children; Cross-Sectional Studies; Economic Recession - statistics & numerical data; Employment - psychology; Ethnicity; Evictions; Foreclosure; Health behavior; Health disparities; Health equity; Health indicators; Health problems; Health status; Housing - economics; Housing - statistics & numerical data; Housing insecurity; Humans; Hypertension; Inequality; Mental depression; Mental health; Mental Health - statistics & numerical data; Physical symptoms; Psychological distress; Qualitative research; Quality; Quality assessment; Social determinants of health; Stress, Psychological - etiology; Subprime mortgage crisis; Suicide; Systematic review; Threats
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.01.010

The aims of this review are to gather and systematize the currently available evidence on the effect of the threat of eviction on health and its eventual spillover effects, to assess the quality of the selected studies, and to describe how these findings vary with respect to dimensions of social inequity. We conducted a literature search in March 2016, which yielded 2208 unduplicated articles. The title, abstract and full text of these articles were reviewed by three independent pairs of researchers. We performed a quality assessment of each article, and evaluated whether health inequities had been considered. We selected 47 articles for this review, of which 86% were from Anglo-Saxon countries (mainly the US), and 75% were published after 2009. Most studies used either a cross-sectional (32%), cohort (28%), or qualitative (17%) design. The majority (55%) assessed mental health as a key health indicator, and a notable proportion assessed physical health (38%) and health-related behaviours (19%). Many of the studies evaluated more than one of these health indicators. The average quality score was 7.4 (SD = 1.5). Evidence from these selected articles revealed a general consensus that individuals under threat of eviction present negative health outcomes, both mental (e.g. depression, anxiety, psychological distress, and suicides) and physical (poor self-reported health, high blood pressure and child maltreatment). However, the distribution and extent of these outcomes depend on inequity dimensions such as gender, age, ethnicity and territory. Furthermore, qualitative studies highlighted some of the pathways that may connect the threat of eviction with its health outcomes. The threat of eviction will likely continue to be a major issue in the coming years, so it is important to conduct further research to create effective interventions and courageous policies to tackle this problem. •We systematized the evidence on the effect of the threat of eviction on health.•Affected individuals have worse mental and physical health status.•The distribution and extent of these effects depend highly on inequity dimensions.•Several studies highlighted some of the possible pathways and mechanisms.