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Social Drivers of Health

Social drivers of health (SDOH) refer to the conditions in which people live, work, and play. SDOH are defined as external factors including social, economic, and educational factors as well as infrastructure and healthcare. SDOH can affect an individual’s health outcomes, functioning, and quality-of-life. Research shows health outcomes are influenced by various elements such as genes, health behaviors (e.g., smoking, diet, and exercise), social and environmental factors, and access to healthcare.

SDOH exists at the individual and community level. In recent years, healthcare organizations have begun assessing patients’ social needs to pilot interventions to help meet those needs. Organizations that take the time to learn about the communities where patients live, work, and play, have a better chance of helping patients make better health decisions by adapting recommendations to fit their lives.

ACCC has developed an educational initiative called Social Drivers of Health. The goal of this work is to partner with multidisciplinary cancer care teams, social workers, patient advocates, health equity experts, and other stakeholders to develop a screening tool for SDOH to be used in treating patients with cancer. This tool will help healthcare teams better identify potential factors that may hinder access to evidence-based cancer care and encourage equitable access to enrollment in and successful completion of a clinical trial.

When we think about social support, something to consider is resources or training regarding caregiving. Something I think would be extremely beneficial for providers would be to include the caregivers in the patients’ care and decision making. Our health is impacted by the people who we are close to, so bringing those social, cultural, and contextual factors into cancer care is very important.

Chiara Acquati, PhD, LMSW, FAOSW

One of my biggest concerns is knowing the challenges that we have with distress screening. I want to make sure that we focus on resources to present to patients at the appropriate time. There might be various time frames that patients present with problems across multiple health systems. Once providers identify issues, there needs to be a responsibility for addressing them.

Terry Portis, RN, BSN, MBA
 

There are community level safety and social justice issues that interfere with people being able to focus on their cancer care and connecting with timely services. I think another factor would be comorbidity and accessing medications for side effects. We might have financial aid for cancer treatment, but patients don't always have access to finances or financial services to afford these medications.

Lailea Noel, PhD, MSW
 

The two biggest challenges I see patients struggling with in practice are financial strain and low health literacy. It’s incredibly challenging to navigate our complex health system. Making care more accessible for patients with low health literacy is how I first got interested in social drivers of health.

Sunil Kripalani, MD, MSc, SFHM, FACP
 

From the ACCCBuzz Blog

  • ACCC & Inova Schar Cancer Institute Meet with Swedish Delegates
    By Molly Kisiel, MSN, FNP-BC
    March 14, 2024
    Explore key takeaways from a meeting between ACCC, Inova Schar Cancer Institute, and delegates from the Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs.
  • ABC’s of Health Disparities
    July 25, 2023
    ACCC is working with multidisciplinary care teams to assess the impact of SDOH on equitable access to cancer care and clinical trials among minority populations.

For more information on this project, please contact the ACCC Provider Education department.

Our Partner


ACS CAN  

In partnership with American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.

Our Supporter

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This project was made possible with support from Bristol Myers Squibb.