In 2020, as part of an approach to advance health equity, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) identified 5 social determinants of health (SDOH) domains related to chronic disease for future programmatic work: built environment, community connections to clinical care, tobacco-free policies, social connectedness, and food and nutrition security. Subsequently, NCCDPHP launched an effort to identify and develop a set of measures for monitoring funded programs’ work in these domains.

Measure development involved a literature review, prioritization process, and multisector review and scoring of 59 measures covering all 5 domains. Thirteen multisector community partnerships (MCPs) conducted the review, applying a real-world public health practice lens to assess the relevance and burden of each measure. MCPs’ ratings were analyzed to create summary scores for each measure, and open-ended feedback was synthesized using rapid qualitative analysis.

Feedback from the MCPs raised issues of relevance, burden of data collection, and equity. Reviewers emphasized the need for measures to align with the equity goals of the community, the value of measuring quality and quantity, and the importance of considering MCPs’ scope of practice. Community review informed refinement of NCCDPHP criteria used for selecting and prioritizing measures.

Reflection on what matters to communities may be important when monitoring progress on SDOH program initiatives. Engaging communities in the review of measures may help advance health equity by leveraging community expertise, sharing power with communities, and creating a system of accountability for equitable intervention approaches.