The aim of this review is to evaluate the health and social effects of accessible home environments for people with functional limitations, in order to provide evidence to promote well-informed decision making for policy guideline development and choices about public health interventions. MEDLINE and nine other electronic databases were searched between December 2014 and January 2015, for articles published since 2004. All study types were included in this review. Two reviewers independently screened 12,544 record titles or titles and abstracts based on our pre-defined eligibility criteria. We identified 94 articles as potentially eligible; and assessed their full text. Included studies were critically appraised using the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool, version 2011. Fourteen studies were included in the review. We did not identify any meta-analysis or systematic review directly relevant to the question for this systematic review. A narrative approach was used to synthesise the findings of the included studies due to methodological and statistical heterogeneity. Results suggest that certain interventions to enhance the accessibility of homes can have positive health and social effects. Home environments that lack accessibility modifications appropriate to the needs of their users are likely to result in people with physical impairments becoming disabled at home.

Centre for Global Health Trinity College Dublin 7 9 Leinster Street South Dublin 2 Ireland

Centre for Rehabilitation Studies Stellenbosch University Private Bag X1 Matieland Stellenbosch 7602 South Africa

Northern Ireland Network for Trials Methodology Research Centre for Public Health Queen's University Belfast Belfast BT126BA UK

Olomouc University Social Health Institute Palacky University Olomouc Olomouc 77111 Czech Republic

School of Nursing Midwifery and Health Systems University College Dublin Belfield Dublin 4 Ireland

School of Psychology Trinity College Dublin College Green Dublin 2 Ireland

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