Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36243764›Full record

ArticleSystematic reviews2022

COVID-19 prevalence and infection control measures at homeless shelters and hostels in high-income countries: a scoping review.

Justine Levesque, Jordan Babando, Nathaniel Loranger, Shantel Johnson, David Pugh

Open access · goldAbstract readScoping Review
In one paragraph

Article in Systematic reviews, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
2.5field-weighted citation impact, top 10% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Eviction as a community health exposure.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2024
    Review
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Justine LevesqueThe Canadian Observatory On Homelessness 6Th Floor Kaneff Tower, York University, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada. jlevesqu@yorku.ca.ORCID 0000-0002-5022-4884
Jordan BabandoInstitute of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6, Canada.
Nathaniel LorangerYork University School of Social Work, S880 Ross Building, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, ON, M3J1P3, Canada.
Shantel JohnsonThe Canadian Observatory On Homelessness 6Th Floor Kaneff Tower, York University, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada.
David PughThe Canadian Observatory On Homelessness 6Th Floor Kaneff Tower, York University, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada.
York University · CACarleton University · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted homeless populations and service workers, especially within homeless shelter/hostel settings. To date, there have been few evidence syntheses examining outbreaks of COVID-19 among both homeless shelter residents and service workers and no critical review of infection control and prevention (IPAC) measures. This scoping review offers a much-needed synthesis of COVID-19 prevalence within homeless shelters and a review of pertinent IPAC measures. 

methodsWe conducted a scoping review that aimed to synthesize academic and gray literature published from March 2020 to July 2021 pertaining to (1) the prevalence of COVID-19 among both residents and staff in homeless shelters and hostels in high-income countries and (2) COVID-19 IPAC strategies applied in these settings. Two reviewers independently screened the literature from several databases that included MEDLINE, PsycInfo, and the WHO's COVID-19 Global Health Portal. The extracted data was mapped, categorized, and thematically discussed.

resultsThematic analysis of 77 academic and gray literature documents revealed four key themes: (1) the demographics of COVID-19 in homeless shelters, (2) asymptomatic spread, (3) pre-existing vulnerability of people experiencing homelessness and shelters, and (4) the inconsistency and ineffectiveness of IPAC implementation.

conclusionThis review offers a useful glimpse into the landscape of COVID-19 outbreaks in homeless shelters/hostels and the major contributing factors to these events. This review revealed that there is no clear indication of generally accepted IPAC standards for shelter residents and workers. This review also illustrated a great need for future research to establish IPAC best practices specifically for homeless shelter/hostel contexts. Finally, the findings from this review reaffirm that homelessness prevention is key to limiting disease outbreaks and the associated negative health outcomes in shelter populations. Limitations of this review included the temporal and database constraints of the search strategy, the exclusion of quality assessments of the literature, and the absence of investigation on the influence of emerging variants on public health policy. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: This scoping review has not been registered on any database; the protocol is available on York University's Institutional Repository https://dx.doi.org/10.25071/10315/38513 .

Indexed as

COVID-19Ill-Housed PersonsDeveloped CountriesHumansInfection ControlPandemicsPrevalenceCOVID-19Homeless sheltersInfection controlPreventionShelter workers

Identifiers

PMID36243764
PMCPMC9569412
OpenAlexW4306292835

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.