title: The threat of home eviction and its effects on health through the equity lens: A systematic review.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Experimental and Health Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain; CEES-Departamento de Salud Pública, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile. Electronic address: hvasquez@aspb.cat.
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vásquez-Vera
authors.affiliation: Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud pública (CIBERESP), Spain; Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica (IIB-Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Laia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Palència
authors.affiliation: CEES-Departamento de Salud Pública, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile.
authors.forename: Ingrid
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Magna
authors.affiliation: CEES-Departamento de Salud Pública, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mena
authors.affiliation: CEES-Departamento de Salud Pública, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile.
authors.forename: Jaime
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Neira
authors.affiliation: Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Experimental and Health Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud pública (CIBERESP), Spain; Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica (IIB-Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Carme
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Borrell
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D057172:Economic Recession / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology*; D006798:Housing / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology*
keywords: Evictions; Foreclosure; Health equity; Health status; Housing insecurity; Social determinants of health; Subprime mortgage crisis