Social Determinants of Health of Older Afghan Refugees and Evacuees in the US - A Scoping Review

Since the Refugee Act of 1980, Afghan refugees and evacuees (REs) have entered the United States (US) in waves following pivotal geopolitical events. Older REs especially face unique challenges and opportunities in navigating health systems. There is limited literature that examines the social determinants of health (SDOH) such as socioeconomic status, language barriers, education, acculturation, and access to health services, among older Afghan REs’.Objectives: This scoping review is to investigate (1) to what extent does research on Afghan RE address SDOH? (2) which specific SDOH are represented in this literature? (3) How well are older adults represented in the literature?<b>Methods/Design</b>This protocol is for a scoping review of SDOH of Older Afghan REs in the US. Our methodology follows the PRISMA-ScR extension approach for scoping reviews (Tricco et al., 2018). This involves application of a checklist with essential reporting items for assessing the scope and synthesizing evidence on a topic. The review process will adhere to the suggested framework: (1) identifying eligibility criteria and information sources, (2) developing comprehensive search strategy, (3) identifying relevant studies, (4) selecting studies, (5) charting data, (6) conducting a critical appraisal of the studies, and (7) synthesizing and reporting results. The PRISMA-ScR checklist will be included in the review results paper.This scoping review will be conducted by at least two researchers. The objective of this scoping review is to explore the following key questions related to the SDOH in the context of older Afghan REs in the United States:To what extent does the existing research on older Afghan REs address SDOH?Which specific SDOH are most frequently represented in the literature on older Afghan REs?To what extent are older adults (aged 50 and above) represented in the literature on Afghan REs?We will conduct the search strategy using transparent methods to enhance the reliability of the results.The PCC (Population, Concept, Context) framework guided our inclusion criteria (Joanna Briggs Institute, 2024). Our <i>population</i> of interest was older adults, however defined by the study being reviewed. Our <i>concept </i>focus was social determinants of health. Our <i>context </i>included United States where the older Afghan REs reside.