Social Determinants of Health Archives

Hospital Program Fosters Equity Through Music

A clinic-based music program gives careful consideration to clients’ unique needs, enabling better access to developmental enrichment opportunities for children and families.

Creating a Home for Public Health and Advocacy In Surgery

A grassroots organization of surgeons and medical students is shining a light on social determinants of health in surgery.

Treating the Whole Person After a Cancer Diagnosis

Social work and patient navigation address the spectrum of patient needs to help ensure treatment adherence.

When a patient receives a cancer diagnosis, following the doctor’s recommended treatment plan is critical to ensuring the best possible outcome for their situation. But for people who face mental health issues such as depression or who lack access to basic needs such as reliable transportation and food, adhering to treatment is easier said than…

‘Meth Is Here and Now’: A Growing Presence in the Opioid Crisis

Close up of a baggie of meth, a drug with rates on the rise in the opioid crisis

An HIV and addiction expert shares his insights into the evolving presence of methamphetamine in the opioid crisis and its implications for curbing substance use disorder.

‘We Need Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Solve Tough Problems’

Hack/ED, a medical hackathon in Boston, retrains processes around collaboration and communication in medical culture.

In overcrowded waiting rooms of emergency departments across the country, every chair tells a story. In one seat, a man suffers heart palpitations because he missed a ride to his dialysis appointment. In another, a little girl wheezes from an asthma flare-up caused by mold in her family’s apartment. Countless stories reveal seemingly trivial factors…

Food Access and Education Take Root in Hospital Farms

Onsite farming provides ripe opportunity to improve food access and engage patients in better nutrition, benefiting outcomes and healthcare spending.

Immigrants’ Healthcare Access Concerns Call for Legal Navigation

A new program embedding legal navigation and counsel within primary care may serve as a model for addressing legal concerns within the healthcare setting.

An uncertain political climate has created confusion among immigrant patients and their providers alike, highlighting the need for expert consultation.

NICU Moms Want to Breastfeed — So Why Don’t They?

The social determinants of health drive racial disparities in NICU breastfeeding rates.

Mother’s milk brings a range of health benefits, including improved brain development and a reduced risk of serious illness and infection. Providing milk can pose a challenge for any new mom, but the challenge is even greater for the mothers of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants — those born weighing 3.3 pounds or less, and usually before 30 weeks of gestation. These tiny and vulnerable babies can spend weeks or months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), creating serious barriers to mothers’ pumping and feeding of their own milk.