Challenges to Escaping Homelessness Among Male Veterans: A Systematic Review

Homelessness among adult male veterans continues to exist for numerous reasons including certain key factors consisting of past childhood experiences, socioeconomic status and other environmental issues. Each of these factors contributes to the difficulty in male veterans escaping homelessness. More homeless veterans than non-homeless veterans had either mental health concerns, substance abuse concerns or both. Homeless veterans, who participated in leisure and social activities, were found to be of a lessor risk of mental illness and chemical dependence relapse tendencies. This paper is a systematic review of 16 articles which were used in gathering information about the needs for homeless male veterans in escaping homelessness. These articles were scored by the quality of the study. A three point rating scale was used in scoring each article according to their sample size, sample strategy and comparison group. This systematic review substantiates the factors that contribute to homelessness among male veterans, and will provide clarifying information for the social work professionals, who directly serve this population sub-group