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- Page navigation anchor for RE: The complexity of screening for social risks and the challenges of addressing themRE: The complexity of screening for social risks and the challenges of addressing them
To the Editor:
We read with great interest the results of a study of 438 Kaiser Permanente members in Southern California who were on subsidized exchange health insurance plans during 2018-2019 [1]. The study assessed the prevalence of four social risks – housing instability, food insecurity, trouble paying for utilities, transportation difficulties – among the survey participants. In the study, participants were asked about their comfort with screening for social risks. Overall, a majority of them felt screening for social risks was appropriate and believed health systems should play a role in offering resources to help them address these risks. However, participants with social risks reported more discomfort with screening than those participants who reported no such risks (14.2% versus 5.4%); non-Hispanic Blacks also had more discomfort with screening than non-Hispanic Whites. In general, study findings were consistent with prior research [2,3], and the research to characterize the burden of social risks in this subgroup was relatively novel, adding some value to the evidence base.
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As illustrated by this study, screening for social risk factors and addressing them is a complex process. For example, the higher discomfort with screening among participants with social risks versus participants without such risks suggests that experiences of stigma [4,5] and distrust with large systems (e.g., government, healthcare, social services) were prevalent in this lowe...Competing Interests: None declared.