Geoinformatics, community health, and high schools in south central los angeles: An urban, participatory, web-based geomedicine pilot to improve social determinants of health

Background: Few models demonstrate how residents of vulnerable communities, including high school students, can apply geoinformatics to either improve their understanding of social determinants of health or improve the ability of local healthcare systems to help patients with social needs. Objective: To increase knowledge and efficacy regarding social determinants of health interventions among high school students in a vulnerable community and to demonstrate how web-based geoinformatics can improve community health education and healthcare delivery. Methods: In a four-month pilot, we partnered with a free public charter school located in south Los Angeles and taught a high school class about locally-relevant social determinants of health using popular education, Frierean, and community-oriented primary care approaches. As part of the curriculum, we built a web-based geographic database that students could use to map local resources for community health. We adapted a ‘detailing‘ model to engage and share mapped data with local healthcare professionals. Results: Our participatory social determinants of health curriculum demonstrated improvements in knowledge and efficacy related to social determinants of health among 35 high school seniors. Participating students mapped 234 local health-critical community resources related to food insecurity, slum housing, adult education, job training and other social determinants. Students uploaded geocoded resource data to a searchable web-based platform and shared the platform with Los Angeles-area physicians and healthcare professionals. The platform is now being tested with healthcare providers to assist them in referring patients with social needs to appropriate community resources. Discussion: Our ‘Yelp for Health' pilot represents an participatory approach to leverage geoinformatics and help residents in underserved communities, including high school students, to understand local social and environmental conditions that drive disease, find local resources that address those conditions, map them on a web-based geoinformatics platform, and leverage their knowledge and data to educate and assist healthcare providers to better care for patients with social needs.