Social Determinants of Health

This brief is the third publication from the Continuity of Care Services Following Coordinated Specialty Care study. It provides a short overview of the different approaches to continuity of care for young adults who have attended CSC programs and explores avenues for integration within programs and organizations as a way to support young adults following a completion of a CSC program.

The Coordinated Specialty Care Transition Study: Final Report provides an overview of transition services for clients graduating from Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC). This the second publication from the Continuity of Care Services Following Coordinated Specialty Care study.

Long-standing health inequities and poor health outcomes remain a pressing policy challenge in the U.S. While opportunities to advance health equity through clinical care continue to be important, addressing the ways in which social determinants of health (SDOH) increase or decrease the risk of poor health outcomes is critical to improving the nation’s health and wellbeing.

The rapid emergence of the novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic spurred national concerns about the social determinants of health (SDOH) as risk factors for infection and their potential to negatively impact health outcomes.

COVID-19 pandemic’s social restrictions have prompted a surge in the mental health needs of children of all ages. Nationwide 4.3 million children/adolescents have been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of August 2021, and many of them have returned to early childhood and school settings. Schools and early childhood programs have long been essential settings for delivery of mental health services.

In an effort to help build the evidence base around the social determinants of health (SDOH), the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) engaged RAND in a project to evaluate the current evidence from programs and policies targeting SDOH and identify the SDOH research questions, data sources, and data gaps that might be used to develop an SDOH research agenda.

April 6, 2021 Link to Printer Friendly Version in PDF Format (11 PDF pages) KEY POINTS

This report represents a landscape review of community-level efforts to address SDOH, followed by interviews with participants in three community-level initiatives that have built networks to coordinate clinical and social services.

Social capital – or the value that arises from connections, networks, and relationships – can help human services programs improve participant outcomes. The U.S.

This handbook is a go-to resource for human services providers looking for practical ways to implement social capital building practices to improve participant outcomes.