Patient and Patient Caregiver Perspectives on Social Screening: A Review of the Literature

Health care policy and practice-level enthusiasm around social screening has emerged in the absence of a clear appreciation for how patients feel about these activities. Yet patient and caregiver perspectives should be used to establish the rationale and inform the design and implementation of social screening initiatives.

We conducted a systematic scoping review to better understand patient and patient caregiver perspectives regarding multidomain social screening in US health care settings.

We identified 16 articles. Thirteen studies assessed the perspectives of patients; a partially overlapping 9 studies assessed the perspectives of adult patient caregivers. Most articles assessing the acceptability of social screening reported that patients and patient caregivers generally found it to be acceptable. Notably, there was some variation by screening approach and prior experiences in health care settings, as well as mixed findings by race/ethnicity and gender. Participants from several articles raised concerns regarding data documentation and sharing, highlighting the potential for social data to contribute to provider bias.

The themes emerging in this diverse set of largely descriptive studies warrant deeper and more rigorous exploration as social screening initiatives expand in health care settings across the United States.