Contextualizing Age‐Friendly Care Within Social Drivers of Health
Social drivers of health (SDOH) impact health outcomes across the lifespan, with distinct effects on the health and well-being of older adults. SDOH contribute to outcomes of particular importance to older adults, including physical and cognitive functioning and aging in place, highlighting the critical importance of addressing SDOH as part of comprehensive, patient-centered geriatrics care. Yet, there is limited guidance on best practices for the integration of SDOH into healthcare, particularly in subspecialty clinical settings such as geriatrics. Existing geriatrics frameworks, including Age-Friendly Health Systems and the Geriatrics 5Ms, provide an opportunity to incorporate SDOH concepts, as they are naturally aligned with models of social and medical care integration. Building on existing frameworks, we propose a novel conceptual model that integrates SDOH across the geriatrics care continuum, including practical guidance for geriatrics healthcare professionals to proactively incorporate SDOH into Age-Friendly care.
Authors
- Meaghan A. Kennedy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5390-4888)
- Catherine M. P. Dawson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5823-8471)
- Martina Azar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4723-8936)
- Alicia J. Cohen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3859-6164)
- María del Rosario Atuesta Venegas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2740-2267)
- Niloo M. Edwards (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8345-5323)
- Andrea Wershof Schwartz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2076-6068)
- Ramona L. Rhodes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5849-6921)
- Victoria Ngo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9973-8379)
- Lauren E. Russell
- Tatiana Rugeles Suarez
- Sydney C. Ruggles (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8276-5079)
Institutions
- Boston University (US)
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- University of Trinidad and Tobago (TT)
- Brown University (US)
- Veterans Health Administration (US)
- Rhode Island Hospital (US)
- VA Boston Healthcare System (US)
- Providence VA Medical Center (US)
- Bedford VA Research Corporation (US)
- VA New England Healthcare System (US)
- Southwestern Medical Center (US)
- Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (US)
- 59th Medical Wing (US)
- Center for Health and Gender Equity (US)
- Southwestern Medical Center (US)
- The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
- Published
- 2025-11-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.70197
- Primary Topic
- Health disparities and outcomes
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00