FS/CA/CORE_2021,11/23 - SDOH Validation Project

Over the course of several years, the Community Outreach and Engagement Division (CORE) at Denver Human Services (DHS) has developed a survey tool to assess the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) of customers within case management. The SDOH is a widely used approach that seeks to examine health through social conditions. Currently there are several validated assessments for the SDOH, but they are primarily focused on a medical setting and did not fit the needs of a human services organization seeking to address social determinants. As such, CORE developed a committee of people including case workers and program evaluation experts to develop a new tool. The goals of this new tool were:
1. Create a quick and simple way to track clients over time
2. Help ensure caseworkers provide holistic care
3. Create consistency around case management at DHS
4. Develop a method that gives insight into program evaluation

CORE implemented the 10-question survey as part of their assessments in February 2021 and expects to have over 800 responses by the end of August and over 50 repeated responses by then end of September. Currently, caseworkers have flexibility in how they use the tool. They are encouraged to use motivational interviewing and expand on each question. As such, some caseworkers will ask each question as it is written while others will as the questions as part of a larger conversation. The tool can be self-administered.

The City and County of Denver (CCD) is soliciting proposals from a qualified vendor to validate the tool using statistical and qualitative assessments. They are interested in both reliability and validity of the tool of the aggregate data.