WE CARESocial Needs Screening and Chronic Diseases Study (WE CARE)

Participants in the usual care group receive standard pediatric care. In this study, participants in the Usual Care arm are a historical cohort of patients who meet eligibility criteria and are identified retrospectively from the Electronic Health Records. As such the investigators have registered this study on Clinical Trial.gov prior to the implementation of the active WE CARE experimental arm.

The study team will work with clinic staff and leadership to implement the WE CARE protocol at each clinical site.

The WE CARE System: A family-centered, highly efficacious approach for addressing adverse SDOH in the clinical setting. Arvin Garg, MD, MPH developed and conceptualized the WE CARE (Well-Child care visit, Evaluation, Community Resources, Advocacy, Referral, Education) intervention in 2005. This approach relies on existing clinical processes and infrastructure and social service resources, thereby making implementation, dissemination, and sustainability feasible. The intervention components include brief training of the clinical team; administration of a short screening tool to parents/patients identifying their desire for help with specific unmet social needs; and provider/clinic staff access to a physical or electronic family resource book containing community- resource listings. Providers generate referrals for families who indicate that they want help with unmet social needs on the WE CARE screener. Existing staff members may assist patients in connecting to referred resources.

Standard pediatric care includes any existing screening practices, which can vary at each clinic.