# Informatics Resources for Social Determinants of Health in School-Based Health Centers

> **NIH NIH F31** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $31,709

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Social determinants of health (SDoH) are associated with poor health outcomes and health disparities. The
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Future of Nursing Report encourages clinicians
to address SDoH, which are the environmental conditions in which people live, learn, work, play, and worship,
that can affect health, functioning, and quality-of-life. While there is a large corpus of knowledge associating
SDoH with childhood asthma, a gap exists on screening of SDoH in school-based health centers (SBHCs).
SBHCs care for children pre-kindergarten to 18 years of age, working collaboratively with the school nurse to
advance the health and well-being of all youth. Although SBHCs have access to individual-level health
information about the child, SBHC providers do not have easy access to SDoH information at the
neighborhood and community level. Screening pediatric families for SDoH in a systematic way can facilitate
connection to pertinent resources. However, there is a dearth of information regarding SDoH screening and the
role of SBHCs in pediatric SDoH interventions. This project focuses on the critical need to identify the
facilitators and barriers of SDoH information gathering behaviors in SBHCs. Through an exploratory sequential
design, the project will include the development of an informatics resource providing SDoH information to
SBHC providers. Asthma will serve as the first clinical condition for this novel work. The investigators will
address three specific aims: Aim 1. Describe the information gathering behaviors for SDoH and asthma
performed by school-based health providers (i.e., nurse practitioners, physicians, physician assistants) for
preventative asthma care, and what barriers exist for information gathering. Aim 2. Develop and evaluate an
informatics resource that provides actionable SDoH information related to the preventative management of
asthma. Aim 3: Evaluate the feasibility of an informatics resource comprising SDoH among school-based
health providers for use in the preventative management of asthma. The PI will receive research training
through the rich scientific environment of Vanderbilt University. Training goals will focus on acquiring
knowledge and skills in biomedical informatics, research methodology, qualitative focus groups, SDoH, and
responsible conduct of research. The highly experienced mentorship team will provide support to make
continued progress toward independence in a program of research focused on SDoH in school-based health
centers, of which this project is a key component. Upon successful completion of the proposed study,
contributions are expected to fill a critical knowledge gap with evidence that supports screening for SDoH by
school-based health providers. These contributions will be significant because they are expected to provide a
way to operationalize SDoH, to prevent asthma exacerbations, and address social needs to improve the lives
of school-age chil...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10916191
- **Project number:** 5F31NR020856-02
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Vera Borkowski
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $31,709
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-08 → 2025-05-09

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10916191

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10916191, Informatics Resources for Social Determinants of Health in School-Based Health Centers (5F31NR020856-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10916191. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*