SDOH Guides

While there exists a long and complex history studying the role of place, social context, and the built environment within health, current and common frameworks of the “social determinants of health” (SDOH) tend to be simplistic in application. The SDOH & Place Project works to build a community of practice around the definition & use of community-level SDOH data. To support these efforts, our SDOH Guides help focus and refine best practices and approaches in measuring distinct SDOH indicators or structural drivers of health at community or regional scales.


The guides are written by new and emerging scholars across the fields of SDOH research, including geography, social science, public health. Each one takes a view on some SDOH topic, breaking down the jargon to clarify understanding and provide direct recommendations. The research guides will continue to be updated according to research directions that unfold.