ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2015
Developing empirically supported theories of change for housing investment and health.
Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed.
- Better floors, better health: a theory of change for an improved household flooring intervention in rural communities in Kwale and Bungoma counties, Kenya.BMC public health · 2025Trial
- The Minha Casa Minha Vida social housing programme and leprosy in Brazil: an analysis of the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort (2010-2015).BMC public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Rental Housing Deposits and Health Care Use.JAMA health forum · 2024Article
- Housing status is protective of neuropsychiatric symptoms among dementia-free multi-ethnic Asian elderly.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- Health effects of holistic housing renovation in a disadvantaged neighbourhood in the Netherlands: a qualitative exploration among residents and professionals.BMC public health · 2024Article
- The equity implications of an expanded health and wellbeing role for housing associations.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- Housing as a determinant of Inuit mental health: associations between improved housing measures and decline in psychological distress after rehousing in Nunavut and Nunavik.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2023Article
- "International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- "It's changed my life not to have the continual worry of being warm" - health and wellbeing impacts of a local fuel poverty programme: a mixed-methods evaluation.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Article
- Food insecurity, home ownership and income-related equity in dental care use and access: the case of Canada.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Housing and Child Health in South Africa: The Value of Longitudinal Research.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Intervening in the cycle of poverty, poor housing and poor health: the role of housing providers in enhancing tenants' mental wellbeing.Journal of housing and the built environment : HBE · 2022Article
- Housing Poverty and Healthy Aging in China: Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Mortgage Lending Bias and Breast Cancer Survival Among Older Women in the United States.Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2021Article
- A multi-scalar perspective on health and urban housing: an umbrella review.Buildings & cities · 2021Article
- Article
- Associations between Objective and Subjective Housing Status with Individual Mental Health in Guangzhou, China.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Do financial hardship and social support mediate the effect of unaffordable housing on mental health?Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The assumption that improving housing conditions can lead to improved health may seem a self-evident hypothesis. Yet evidence from intervention studies suggests small or unclear health improvements, indicating that further thought is required to refine this hypothesis. Articulation of a theory can help avoid a black box approach to research and practice and has been advocated as especially valuable for those evaluating complex social interventions like housing. This paper presents a preliminary theory of housing improvement and health based on a systematic review conducted by the authors. Following extraction of health outcomes, data on all socio-economic impacts were extracted by two independent reviewers from both qualitative and quantitative studies. Health and socio-economic outcome data from the better quality studies (n = 23/34) were mapped onto a one page logic models by two independent reviewers and a final model reflecting reviewer agreement was prepared. Where there was supporting evidence of links between outcomes these were indicated in the model. Two models of specific improvements (warmth & energy efficiency; and housing led renewal), and a final overall model were prepared. The models provide a visual map of the best available evidence on the health and socio-economic impacts of housing improvement. The use of a logic model design helps to elucidate the possible pathways between housing improvement and health and as such might be described as an empirically based theory. Changes in housing factors were linked to changes in socio-economic determinants of health. This points to the potential for longer term health impacts which could not be detected within the lifespan of the evaluations. The developed theories are limited by the available data and need to be tested and refined. However, in addition to providing one page summaries for evidence users, the theory may usefully inform future research on housing and health.
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