A systematic review of interventions for homeless alcohol-abusing adults

Aims: To compile and critically analyse published research on interventions with alcohol-abusing homeless adults. Methods: A systematic review was conducted of research published utilising the MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycInfo, CINAHL and SocIndex databases from inception to March 2015. A meta-analysis was performed on studies that met the inclusion criteria, to determine if there were any significant pre- and post-intervention effects on alcohol-use. Results: Seventeen studies from three continents were included in this systematic review. A meta-analysis of pre- and post-intervention effects on alcohol use across the 17 studies found highly significant effects (p?n?=?10), where the same specific alcohol use outcome measurement was employed across all studies, also showed highly significant pre–post intervention effects (p?Conclusions: There is a relative paucity of research into alcohol abusing homeless adults, which has implications for evidence-based practice. This systematic meta-analytical review demonstrates that a range of alcohol abuse interventions for homeless adults produces improvements in alcohol use (p?