Pathways Linking Housing Inequalities and Health Outcomes among Migrant and Refugee Populations in High-Income Countries: A Protocol for a Mixed-Methods Systematic Review

Kritika Rana; Andrew Page; Jennifer L Kent; Amit Arora

doi:10.3390/ijerph192416627

Pathways Linking Housing Inequalities and Health Outcomes among Migrant and Refugee Populations in High-Income Countries: A Protocol for a Mixed-Methods Systematic Review

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Dec 10;19(24):16627. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192416627.

Authors

Kritika Rana^{1

2

3}, Andrew Page¹, Jennifer L Kent⁴, Amit Arora^{1

2

3

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Translational Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, NSW 2560, Australia.
² School of Health Sciences, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, NSW 2560, Australia.
³ Health Equity Laboratory, Campbelltown, NSW 2560, Australia.
⁴ The University of Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2008, Australia.
⁵ Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health, The Children's Hospital at Westmead Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia.
⁶ Oral Health Services, Sydney Local Health District and Sydney Dental Hospital, NSW Health, Surry Hills, NSW 2010, Australia.

Abstract

Several high-income countries are currently experiencing an unprecedented and multifaceted housing crisis. The crisis is escalating rapidly, and its negative ramifications are shared disproportionately by migrant and refugee communities. Although housing is often cited as an important social determinant of health, the relationship between housing inequalities and health outcomes in the context of migrant and refugee populations remain under-explored, particularly in high-income countries. This paper presents a protocol for a mixed-methods systematic review which will synthesize the evidence on the key housing and health inequalities faced by migrant and refugee populations in high-income countries. It will inform the identification of pathways linking housing inequalities to health outcomes. The protocol for this systematic review was developed with guidance from the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology for mixed-methods systematic reviews using a convergent integrated approach to synthesis and integration, and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) statement. Quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods studies reporting the association of housing inequalities with physical and mental health outcomes among refugee and migrant populations in high-income countries will be included. Medline, Web of Science, Embase, PsycINFO, Scopus and CINAHL will be searched for peer-reviewed literature. This will be supplemented by gray literature searches using Google Scholar, MedNar and WHOLIS. Two reviewers will independently screen and select studies, assess the methodological quality and conduct data extraction. This systematic review will elucidate the different pathways linking housing inequalities and health outcomes, which may guide the development of targeted housing and public health interventions to improve the health and wellbeing of migrant and refugee populations. The review is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022362868).

Keywords: health; high-income countries; housing; migrant; refugee; systematic review.

MeSH terms

Developed Countries
Housing*
Humans
Meta-Analysis as Topic
Outcome Assessment, Health Care
Refugees* / psychology
Systematic Reviews as Topic

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.