Research findings on addressing social determinants of health in practice: Nurses' perspectives

Abstract

Background and objective: Assessing and intervening with patients’ SDOH are important to nursing practice. However, there are only a few studies on frontline nurses’ perspectives on integrating the SDOH into clinical practice. The purpose of the study was to assess acute care nurses’ knowledge, confidence, and likelihood for addressing patients’ social determinants of health (SDOH).

Methods: A descriptive study was conducted surveying 190 nurses in three hospitals within a large northeastern US hospital system using an adapted 48-item SDOH survey which measured nurses’ confidence in, knowledge of, and likelihood to address the SDOH with patients.

Results: Respondents reported a high level of knowledge and confidence in addressing the determinants of stress and social support as factors compared with lower percentages of respondents who identified less knowledge and confidence in addressing patients’ education level, race. income, unemployment, and job security factors.

Conclusions: The findings support that didactic educational interventions are needed as well as experiential learning around addressing patients’ SDOH.