A Scoping Review to Identify Community- and Societal-Level Strategies Evaluated from 2013 to 2023 for Their Potential Impact on Child Well-Being in the United States

Abstract

There is increased recognition for solutions that address the social determinants of health (SDOHs)—the context in which families are raising children. Unfortunately, implementing solutions that address inequities in the SDOHs has proven to be difficult. Many child and family serving systems and communities do not know where to start or do not have the capacity to identify and implement upstream SDOH strategies. As such, we conducted a scoping review to assess the status of evidence connecting strategies that address the SDOHs and child well-being. A total of 29,079 records were identified using natural language processing with 341 records meeting inclusion criteria (e.g., outcomes focused on child well-being, interventions happening at a population level, and evaluations of prevention strategies in the United States). Records were coded, and the findings are presented by the SDOH domain, such as strategies that addressed economic stability (n = 94), education access and quality (n = 17), food security (n = 106), healthcare access and quality (n = 96), neighborhood and built environment (n = 7), and social and community context (n = 12). This review provides an overview of the associations between population-level SDOH strategies and the impact—good and bad—on child well-being and may be a useful resource for communities and practitioners when considering equitable solutions that promote thriving childhoods.