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Screening tools to address social determinants of health in the United States: A systematic review

Neshan M, Padmanaban V, Tsilimigras DI, Obeng-Gyasi S, Fareed N, Pawlik TM
J Clin Transl Sci
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have mandated that hospitals implement measures to screen social determinants of health (SDoH). We sought to report on available SDoH screening tools. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, as well as the grey literature were searched (1980 to November 2023). The included studies were US-based, written in English, and examined a screening tool to assess SDoH. Thirty studies were included in the analytic cohort. The number of questions in any given SDoH assessment tool varied considerably and ranged from 5 to 50 (mean: 16.6). A total of 19 SDoH domains were examined. Housing (n = 23, 92%) and safety/violence (n = 21, 84%) were the domains assessed most frequently. Food/nutrition (n = 17, 68%), income/financial (n = 16, 64%), transportation (n = 15, 60%), family/social support (n = 14, 56%), utilities (n = 13, 52%), and education/literacy (n = 13, 52%) were also commonly included domains in most screening tools. Eighteen studies proposed specific interventions to address SDoH. SDoH screening tools are critical to identify various social needs and vulnerabilities to help develop interventions to address patient needs. Moreover, there is marked heterogeneity of SDoH screening tools, as well as the significant variability in the SDoH domains assessed by currently available screening tools.

Neshan M, Padmanaban V, Tsilimigras DI, Obeng-Gyasi S, Fareed N, Pawlik TM. Screening tools to address social determinants of health in the United States: a systematic review. J Clin Transl Sci. 2024;8(1):e60. DOI:10.1017/cts.2024.506. PMID: 38655456

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Publication year
Resource type
Peer Reviewed Research
Outcomes
Process
Screening research
Yes
Social Determinant of Health
Childcare
Economic Security
Education/Literacy
Employment
Food/Hunger
Housing Stability
Legal Services
Social Support/Social Isolation
Transportation
Utilities
Violence/Safety
Study design
Review