Healthcare practitioners’ approaches to social determinants of population health linked to home energy

Social determinants of population health (SDoH) linked to energy use in the home are poorly considered in diagnosing and managing a range of chronic conditions particularly those that impact the respiratory and cardiovascular system. Over half of the European population lives in fuel poverty, with many health conditions exacerbated by this. The purpose of this paper is to review published evidence on ways healthcare professionals consider SDoH linked to energy use in the home. The review discusses insights from review and consequences these have on ways home design, use of home and healthcare design are impacting on population health outcomes.

This paper utilises a semi-systematic literature review to identify existing approaches to considering the home environment within the diagnostic process. This approach was employed to explore a wide range of areas related to the central narrative of the home in healthcare. As healthcare professional perception of patient home environment is an understudied area, this approach allowed for material outside the research area to be reviewed and overall insights synthesised.

The review found 36 papers that related directly to the home as a SDoH or considered clinician perception of the home in health, however little material was shown consider energy use. These papers showed awareness within healthcare professionals of the impact the home can have on health, however raised barriers to both collecting and acting upon this kind of information. Themes were also observed during searches that indicated the home is primarily considered in terms of a location for diagnosis and treatment, rather than a factor that affects these processes. How the home is designed as an environment and how healthcare approaches are designed to respond to this is an important area of research.

The insights gained from the review suggest there will be value in initiating research into further understanding approaches to considering SDoH linked to energy behaviours in the home. Energy behaviours in the home have a relationship with patient health yet they are poorly considered in diagnosing and managing chronic health conditions. Research needs to be conducted to understand how the home is perceived by healthcare professionals and to develop tools to facilitate consideration of the patient home. This review forms the groundwork for developing diagnostic and public health management guidance/tools that would facilitate the acquiring of experiences from patients regarding the design and use of their home and energy behaviours within them.