Pediatric Social Risk Screening: Leveraging Research to Ensure Equity

Social risk screening in pediatric patients means screening for risk factors including food and housing insecurity, financial strain, and unsafe environments

Social risk screening is often done by asking parents face to face or using devices like tablets

Current screening protocols may not be effective and may actually lead to more inequities

There is low concordance between screening results showing who might need resources and who is actually asking for more resources

Families may feel uncomfortable with the screening and may think there might be downstream repercussions based on their answers

There may be racial biases in screening practices, with non-white patients being asked these questions more often

These issues may lead to a mismatch between the opportunity for resource engagement and the actual resource engagement

Community needs assessments and other population level data should be used to identify community needs

Community partnerships should be used to ensure that community needs are addressed

Studies should be conducted to determine if offering resources universally is more effective than screening

Tiered levels of support should be provided

Patient and family feedback should be obtained and incorporated