There is a growing interest in community-level characteristics such as the relationship or link between social capital and health care access. To assess the rigor with which this construct has been empirically applied in research on health care access, a systematic review was conducted.

A total of 2,396 abstracts were reviewed, and 21 met the criteria of examining some measure of social capital and its effects on health care access. We compared each in detail to identify any overall patterns in findings and conclusions. Here’s what we found.

The review found a lack of congruence in how social capital was measured and interpreted and a general inconsistency in findings, which made it difficult to draw firm conclusions about the effects of social capital on health care access. Insights from the social network literature can help improve the conceptual and measurement problems.

Future work should distinguish among bonding, bridging, and linking social capital and their sources and benefits, and examine whether three dimensions of social capital actually exist: cognitive, behavioral, and structural.

Keywords: social capital; social networks; health care access; review; social network analysis; social connectedness; relationships ; patient care

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