Assessing Pediatric Food Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Austin Federally Qualified Health Centers
试验速览
- 阶段
- 不适用
- 入组人数
- 1,000
- 试验地点
- 3
- 主要终点
- Food Insecurity Score
研究概览
简要总结
The investigators suspect that the current COVID-19 pandemic may be associated with a high level of unsuspected food insecurity among lower income Austin families who receive their health care at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). Pediatricians will ask families about food insecurity as part of standard of care in order to assess if food insecurity has begun or worsened during the pandemic.
详细描述
According to previous studies, 21-23% of lower income families experience food insecurity, a position of uncertainty about their ability to afford food or omitting meals for financial reasons. Food insecurity in a family is detrimental to a child's mental and physical health, and poses a risk to his/her development. Food insecurity prevalence has also been reported higher than the state level prevalence in households impacted by disasters. It is therefore reasonable to hypothesize that the unprecedented global COVID-19 pandemic has increased the frequency of food insecurity among lower income families. However, no data are known about the current incidence of food insecurity during a pandemic with quarantine procedures in place. This knowledge will also add background for future studies on the effects of acute on chronic food insecurity on low-income families facing similar adversities such as this epidemic.
A 2-question tool has been validated to evaluate the presence of food insecurity. An affirmative response to either question has been reported to yield a sensitivity of 97% and specificity of 83-86%. Screening for basic needs may open a sensitive discussion about economic difficulties associated with the adverse health outcomes previously discussed. While this tool is a current standard of care as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is often not utilized in medical visits to a primary care provider whether for routine well child care or for sick visits. During the study period, pediatricians at two FQHC clinics will make a concentrated effort to ask these 2 screening questions in order to collect data on the prevalence and magnitude of challenges of food insecurity at this time.
Although the investigators are seeking to evaluate the current standard of care, they may want to share our findings in order to provide a foundation for more generalizable research.
The investigators will seek to take a random sampling of 500 pediatric patients (250 each from 2 CommUnity Care clinics) and query the parent/guardian with the 2-question food insecurity tool during their regular appointment, either in person or on the phone/telehealth. The pediatricians (Co-Inv) will ask the questions and record the data.
2-questions to assess food insecurity as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics:
研究设计
- 研究类型
- Observational
- 观察模型
- Cohort
- 时间视角
- Prospective
入排标准
- 年龄范围
- 18 Years 至 100 Years（Adult, Older Adult）
- 性别
- All
- 接受健康志愿者
- 是
入选标准
- •Any parent/caregiver of a pediatric patient being seen at the 2 specified CommUnity Care centers
排除标准
- •Not at 2 specified CommUnity Care centers under care of researchers
结局指标
主要结局
Food Insecurity Score
时间窗: Up to 1 year
2-questions to assess food insecurity as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics: 1. "We worried whether our food would run out before we got money to buy more." Was that often true, sometimes true, or never true for your household in the last 12 months? 2. "The food we bought just didn't last, and we didn't have money to get more." Was that often true, sometimes true, or never true for your household in the last 12 months? A response of "often true" or "sometimes true" to either question = positive screen for Food Insecurity. The investigators will also ask the same 2 questions in the framework of "...in the last 1-2 months" to assess how the current situation has affected their immediate concerns, assessing if their food insecurity has begun or worsened during the pandemic.
次要结局
未报告次要终点
研究者
Steven Abrams
Professor
University of Texas at Austin