Youth-centered Recommendations to Address Social Stigma and Discrimination Against Unhoused Youth: An Integrative Literature Review.
Huy Le, Lynn Rew
PMID 37994006WHAT IT FOUND
Unhoused youth face stigma from peers, staff, and systems that worsens health and delays care.
School nurses can reduce harm by using trauma-informed care, connecting students to resources, and advocating for inclusive policies rather than punitive ones.
Key findings
01Stigma and discrimination from peers, school staff, healthcare providers, and law enforcement lead to delayed care, school dropout, and worse mental health outcomes for unhoused youth.
02School nurses are positioned to connect unhoused students to essential resources and advocate for structural changes, such as using the McKinney-Vento Act and ESSA funding, to support basic needs and reduce stigma.
03Healthcare environments often create hostile conditions through judgment, lack of privacy, and rigid requirements, which discourage unhoused youth from seeking care.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The review is limited to English-language studies conducted in the United States, which may not capture the experiences of unhoused youth in other contexts. The search was completed in April 2021, so it excludes more recent studies. The Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool involves subjective scoring, which may vary between raters. Excluding op-eds and case reports may have missed some qualitative insights into the lived experience of stigma.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. No financial support was received for the research.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the high participant count (808,296) as evidence of high-certainty clinical trials; most included studies were qualitative or mixed-methods with moderate appraisal scores, so the findings describe patterns of experience and structural barriers rather than testing the efficacy of specific nursing interventions.