Back to Evidence & Resource Library

Social Needs Screening Tool Comparison Table

The SIREN team compiles the content of several of the most widely used social health screening tools to facilitate comparisons. The table below summarizes characteristics for each tool, including information about the intended population or setting, total number of questions, social health domains covered, and domain-specific measures used. To view a specific screening tool in its entirety, click on the column heading. To compare questions used across different tools for the same domain (e.g. food security), click on the row heading. Scroll to the right to see the full table.

The table below includes screening tools either designed for older adults or that are not age-specific; click here to access a table comparing social needs screening tools developed specifically for pediatric settings.

A note on validity: Inclusion of a tool below does not necessarily mean that the tool or the questions contained therein has been “validated”. While some specific questions or tools have been studied,^1-4 validity has many different dimensions (e.g., criterion validity [predictive, convergent], construct [structural]), and none of the tools below has been vetted through all steps of gold standard measure development or had all types of validity assessed. You can find more information about validity studies done on different social risk screening tools by watching this webinar, reading this paper, or visiting the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute website on this topic. As we learn about new tool validation studies, we will add citations to the table below and the SIREN Evidence and Resource Library.

If you would like to suggest a tool for inclusion in this table, please contact us.

Download the table (combining adult and pediatric tools) as an Excel file.

	AAFP-Tool	Access Health: Spartanburg	ACORN	AHC-Tool	Arlington	BMC-Thrive	HealthBegins	Health Leads	MLP IHELLP	Medicare Total Health Assessment	NAM domains	NC Medicaid	PRAPARE	Structural Vulnerability Assessment Tool	WellRx	Your Current Life Situation
# Social Needs Questions	15	10	11	19	11	11	24	10	10	9	12	11	17	37	10	19
# Non-Social Needs Questions	0	28	0	8	0	0	4	0	0	30	12	0	4	6	1	10
Patient or Clinic Population	NS	NS	Veterans	Medicare & Medicaid	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	Medicare	NS	Medicaid	CHCs	NS	PC	NS
Reading Level*	7th grade	5th grade	5th grade	8th grade	10th grade	7th grade	11th grade	6th grade	8th grade	College	6th grade	5th grade	8th grade	6th grade	2nd grade	9th grade
Reported Completion Time	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	10 - 20 min.	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Languages													Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Swahili, Vietnamese	32 languages		Spanish
Scoring	Y	N	N	Y	N	N	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
Cost	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free
Benefits									1					2
Caregiver Responsibilities																1
Childcare Access & Affordability	1							1					1		1	1
Civic Engagement							1
Clothing													1
Disabilities			2
Discrimination														4
Education	1	2	1	1		1	3		1		2		1	1	1
Employment	1	1	1		1	1		1				1	3	2
Financial Strain	1		1	1		2				1			3		1
Food Insecurity	2	1	2	1	3	1	1		2		2	1	1	1	3
Health Care / Medicine Access & Affordability		1			1		1					2			2
Housing Insecurity / Instability / Homelessness	1		1	1	2	2	1	2	1		2	2	2	1	2
Housing Quality	1		1	1		1		1	1				1		1
Immigration / Migrant Status / Refugee Status						1		2				2	3
Incarceration												1	1
Income		1						3		1**		1
Interpersonal Violence (IPV)	4		4	2		4		3		4	3	1	1	2	3
Literacy		2					1						3		1
Neighborhood Safety						1						1	4	1	1
Power of Attorney / Guardianship								1	1
Social Support			2	1		5	1		2	4		1	2		5
Stress			1			1			2	1		1			2
Transportation	1		1	1	1	1	1				1	1		1	2
Utilities	1		1	1	1		1				1	2		1	1
Veteran Status		2										1
Workplace Safety													2
Desire for Assistance / Urgent Needs	1		Integrated into some domains; see domain-specific questions	2	Integrated into “food security” domain	Integrated into "civic engagement"; see domain-specific question	2	Integrated into "Immigration"; see domain-specific question	1		2		Integrated into “Benefits” domain	Integrated into some domains; see domain-specific questions	2
Health Behaviors / Behavioral Health / Health Status			MH, PA, SU			DP, PA			AU,DP, HS, MH, PA, TU	AA, MH, PA, TU				AA, SA

*Reading level assessed using the consensus score obtained from http://www.readabilityformulas.com/free-readability-formula-tests.php.

**Geocoded

NS = Non-Specified; NR = Not Reported; AU = Alcohol Abuse, DP = Dietary Pattern; DU = Drug Use; HC = Health Confidence; HS = Health/functional status; MH = Mental Health (including depression), PA = Physical Activity, TU = Tobacco Use

1. Hager ER, Quigg AM, Black MM, et al. Development and validity of a 2-item screen to identify families at risk for food insecurity. Pediatrics. 2010;126(1):e26-32.
2. Baer TE, Scherer EA, Fleegler EW, Hassan A. Food insecurity and the burden of health-related social problems in an urban youth population. J Adolesc Health. 2015;57(6):601-607.
3. Gundersen C, Engelhard EE, Crumbaugh AS, Seligman HK. Brief assessment of food insecurity accurately identifies high-risk us adults. Public Health Nutr. 2017;20(8):1367-1371.
4. Institute of Medicine of the National Academies Committee on the Recommended Social and Behavioral Domains and Measures for Electronic Health Records. Capturing social and behavioral domains in electronic health records: Phase 2. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2014.