Empowering Features and Outcomes of Homeless Interventions: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis

The purpose of this systematic review and narrative synthesis was to identify homeless interventions with empowering features and evaluate their effectiveness for developing the psychological empowerment of services users. To identify and evaluate intervention studies, we combined the theoretical frameworks of empowering settings and psychological empowerment (PE). Our conceptualization of PE included outcomes aligned with the intrapersonal, interactional, and behavioral components. Relational outcomes were also included and conceptualized as antecedents for PE development. After systematic searching and screening, 37 studies were included for review. Interventions with empowering features included supported housing, case management, skills and knowledge acquisition, and mutual support. Interventions that were competency-building effectively improved outcomes aligned with the intrapersonal PE component. Interventions that were collaborative and competency-building effectively improved outcomes aligned with the behavioral PE component. Weak evidence suggested that interventions with empowering features may effectively improve outcomes aligned with the interactional PE component. Interventions that promoted and developed support effectively improved relational antecedents. Findings align the empirical evidence for homeless interventions with theoretical conceptions of empowering features and processes. Findings may be applied to the design and implementation of homeless interventions to incorporate empowering features and to facilitate the development of homeless services users’ PE. Highlights Empowerment theory was applied to review homeless interventions literature. Empowering homeless interventions included supported housing and mutual support, for example. Empowering interventions contributed to indicators of emotional and behavioral empowerment. Fewer empowering interventions contributed to indicators of cognitive empowerment. Service user involvement may facilitate improvements in indicators of psychological empowerment.