Journal Article

Collection of social determinants of health in the community clinic setting: a cross-sectional study

Kusnoor, Sheila V., Epelbaum, Marcia I., Koonce, Taneya Y., Blasingame, Mallory N., McClellan, Kalonji M., Giuse, Nunzia B., Hurley, Suzanne T., Frakes, Elizabeth T., Huang, Li-Ching

2018

Overview

Background Addressing social and behavioral determinants of health (SBDs) may help improve health outcomes of community clinic patients. This cross-sectional study explored how assessing SBDs can be used to complement health data collection strategies and provide clinicians with a more in-depth understanding of their patients. Methods Adult patients, ages 18 and older, at an urban community health care clinic in Tennessee, U.S.A., were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding health status, health history and SBDs while waiting for their clinic appointment. The SBD component included items from the National Academy of Medicine, the Protocol for Responding to and Assessing Patient Assets, Risks, and Experiences instrument, and the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking. Data collection and analysis occurred in 2017. Results One hundred participants completed the study. The questionnaire took approximately 11 min to complete, and the response rate was 90% or higher for all items except annual household income (unanswered by 40 participants). The median number of negative SBDs was 4 (IQR 2.75–7.0), 96 participants had at least one unmet need, and the most common negative SBD was physical activity (75%; 75/100). Conclusions The hybrid questionnaire provided insight into a community clinic population’s SBDs and allowed for a more complete understanding than a single questionnaire alone. The brief questionnaire administration time and low non-response rate support the questionnaire’s feasibility in the community clinic setting, and results can be used by clinicians to further the personalization goals of precision medicine. Next steps include evaluating how to connect patients with appropriate resources for addressing their SBDs.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Analysis / Biostatistics / Census of Population / Chronic illnesses / Clinical outcomes / Communities / Community / Community health care / Community health clinic / Cross-sectional studies / Data collection / Data processing / Decision analysis / Diabetes / Disease control / Disease prevention / Domestic violence / Economic analysis / Electronic health records / Environmental Health / Epidemiology / Feasibility / Health / Health behavior / Health facilities / Health information / Health planning / health promotion and society / Health services / Health status / Health surveys / Households / Imprisonment / Informatics / Measures / Medical screening / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Mental depression / Mental health / Mental health services / Patients / Physical activity / Physical fitness / PRAPARE / Precision medicine / Primary care / Public Health / Questionnaires / Research Article / Response rates / Responses / Social determinants of health / Social factors / Studies / Surveillance / Tobacco / Trends / Underserved populations / Urban areas / Vaccine / Websites