Abstract
Objective
Child health is strongly influenced by social determinants. Little is known about
the opinions of primary caregivers regarding the physicians' role in addressing social
needs. Our objective was to examine caregivers' opinions about that role and any associations
between those opinions, previous exposure to screening for needs by pediatric residents,
and socioeconomic status (SES).
Methods
Cross-sectional survey study of caregivers of hospitalized children. The survey collected
information on caregiver opinion regarding their ability to ask physicians for help
with social needs, whether physicians know how to help with those needs, and whether
physicians should ask about social needs. The chi square test was used to identify
associations between caregiver opinions, prior screening by a resident at admission,
and SES (determined by census tract median household income).
Results
Surveys were completed by 143 caregivers (79% participation). Most respondents agreed
that they could ask their physician for help (54.5%), that their physician knows how
to help (64.3%), and that physicians should ask about social needs (71.3%). Previously
screened caregivers had more favorable opinions about asking for help (76.2% vs 45.5%,
P < .01), whether their physician knows how to help (81.0% vs 57.4%, P = .02), and physician screening for unmet needs (85.7% vs 65.3%, P = .03). There were no SES differences in opinion.
Conclusions
Caregivers have favorable opinions of the physician's role in addressing the social
determinants of health, especially after being screened. Physicians should be confident
in the acceptability of screening families for social needs.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
June 1,
2015
Received:
August 20,
2014
Footnotes
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
ScienceDirect
Access this article on ScienceDirectLinked Article
- Moving From Social Risk Assessment and Identification to Intervention and TreatmentAcademic PediatricsVol. 16Issue 2
- PreviewClinical care seeks to match the right patient to the right treatment. Clinicians use histories and physicals to guide assessment and to determine diagnosis and management plans. This pattern of assessment, identification, and treatment typically focuses on symptoms and diseases. However, mounting evidence suggests that social determinants of health (SDH) may be just as, if not more, relevant to clinical outcomes than many of the medical or biologic determinants that often dominate our focus. It is therefore natural to consider how we might reliably and effectively integrate assessment, identification, and treatment of the SDH into clinical practice.
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