Please note this application is under active development. If you spot any errors or something isn't working, please contact us at evidence.service@wales.nhs.uk.
Systematic Review
"This Campbell systematic review examines the effects of outreach programmes on problem/high-risk behaviour of young people between eight and 25 year old, living in OECD countries. The review summarises evidence from five studies undertaken in the USA and Canada that involved 578 participants in total."
"The evidence was inconclusive. At most, the results from two studies could be pooled in a single meta-analysis. The outcomes drug (other than marijuana) use, marijuana use and alcohol use each at two different time points (one and three months follow up) were meta-analysed. In addition, a number of other outcomes were reported in a single study only."
"The current landscape of research on outreach programmes targeting at-risk youth in the OECD countries shows that it has yet to be evaluated thoroughly. The evidence was inconclusive because too few studies reported results on the same type of outcome. Furthermore, all the available evidence used in the data synthesis was from the USA and Canada, and so the findings may not be generalisable to other settings and systems outside Northern America. None of the studies used in the meta-analyses reported on long term impacts. These considerations point to the need for more rigorously-conducted studies reporting a larger number of outcomes."