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Identifying social determinants of health and legal needs for children with special health care needs

N.A. DeJong, C.T. Wood, M.C. Morreale, C. Ellis, D. Davis, J. Fernandez, M.J. Steiner
Clin Pediatr

Children with special health care needs (CSHCN) require comprehensive care with high levels of community and government assistance. Medical-legal partnerships may be particularly suited to address needs for this population. To explore this, we conducted in-depth telephone interviews of families of CSHCN cared for in the primary care practice of our tertiary care children's hospital. The majority of the sample (N = 46) had been late on housing payments and 17% of homeowners had been threatened with foreclosure. Families frequently reported denial of public benefits. Approximately 10% had executed advance planning documents such as guardianship plans for the children or wills for the parents. A minority of families had sought help from community agencies or lawyers. Less than one third had ever discussed any of the issues with health care providers, but two thirds were likely or very likely to in the future. CSHCN may especially benefit from the social support of a medical-legal partnership.

DeJong NA, Wood CT, Morreale MC, et al. Identifying social determinants of health and legal needs for children with special health care needs. Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2016;55(3):272-277. PMID: 26130392. DOI: 10.1177/0009922815591959.

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Publication year
Resource type
Peer Reviewed Research
Outcomes
Process
Population
Complex Patients
Social Determinant of Health
Economic Security
Education/Literacy
Food/Hunger
Health Care Access
Housing Quality
Housing Stability
Legal Services
Public Benefits
Study design
Other Study Design
Keywords