Choice of housing has become an important political and therapeutic goal for psychiatric rehabilitation. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of proportions of studies on preference for independent housing. A subgroup analysis compared studies with homeless and non-homeless consumers. The meta-analysis included 8 studies with 3134 consumers. The overall proportion of consumers who had expressed a preference for living independently was 0.84. There were only marginal differences between studies with homeless and non-homeless consumers. In a given service planning area, the rate of independent housing settings should exceed the rate of more institutionalized settings by a wide margin.
Keywords: Independent housing; Meta-analysis; Preferences; Psychiatric rehabilitation.