Social Determinants of Health Screening Tools for Adults in Primary Care: Protocol for a Scoping Review. (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Social determinants of health (SDOH) have been shown to be predictors of health outcomes. Integrating SDOH screening tools into primary care may help to identify individuals or groups with a greater burden of social vulnerability and to promote health equity. OBJECTIVE Our objectives are: 1) to identify the existing screening tools to assess social deprivation in adults in primary care settings; 2) to describe the characteristics of these tools and, where appropriate, their psychometric properties; 3) to describe their validity and reliability in those scales in which validation processes have been conducted; and 4), to identify evidence gaps and provide recommendations for future research METHODS This study protocol was structured according a 5-stage framework, and the scoping review will be conducted according to the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews and reported following the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines Furthermore, due to the fact that not all the SDOH assessment tools are published as scientific articles, we will use a slightly modified form of the scoping review framework outlined by Peters and colleagues to retrieve specific information about specific tools for screening of SDOH in primary care contexts. The following electronic databases will be searched by 2 reviewers: Medline (via PubMed), CINAHL Plus, Web of Science (WoS) and SCOPUS. In addition, to searching on grey literature will search in the following sources: DART-Europe E-thesis Portal, OpenGrey and Google Scholar. After revision of inclusion and exclusion criteria, title, abstracts and full text of included studies will be separately screened by two reviewers. RESULTS A PRISMA-ScR flow chart will be used to depict the sources of evidence screened, and data charting will be used to gain in depth knowledge. The findings of the scoping review will be presented in both narrative and tabular formats, summarizing the existing literature on tools used for SDOH in primary care settings. A critical analysis addressing the variability in tool validation, cultural adaptability, and integration into diverse healthcare systems will be included. Finally, key gaps in the existing evidence will be examined, and research priorities will be proposed emphasizing the need for screening tools culturally sensitive, scalable, and easily integrated into primary care workflows. CONCLUSIONS This scoping review will provide a comprehensive and critical description of the available tools aimed at screening SDOH in primary care settings. Incorporating these tools into routine care has been recognized as a key strategy for addressing health inequalities, given the growing evidence base on the influence of SDOH on health outcomes.