Mitigating Hunger and Food Insecurity Among Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Caregivers of Hospitalized Children

Health Behavior Clinical Trial

Official title:

Mitigating Hunger and Food Insecurity Among Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Caregivers of Hospitalized Children

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Withdrawn

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02700802
• Other study ID #: IRB16-1434
• Status: Withdrawn
• Phase: N/A
• First received: March 1, 2016
• Last updated: May 11, 2017
• Start date: July 2017
• Est. completion date: August 2022

Study information

• Verified date: May 2017
• Source: University of Chicago
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The Feed1st proposed program of research will promote health of informal caregivers with a hospitalized child by testing a self-management intervention that addresses the widely overlooked problem of caregiver hunger. As many as 54% of parents and other informal caregivers of hospitalized children struggle with insufficient food to nourish themselves and their family during and after a hospital stay. Hunger impairs caregiver physical and mental health by depleting energy for self-care, emotional self-regulation, and supportive interactions with the child, the family, and the formal caregiver team. The long-term objective of the Feed1st program is to alleviate hunger and food insecurity among families with hospitalized children. Established in partnership with nursing and chaplaincy leadership at our children's hospital and the Greater Chicago Food Depository, the Feed1st program currently operates self-serve food pantries on four inpatient units and the emergency department in our children's hospital on Chicago's South Side. Since 2010, Feed1st has provided nearly 8500 pounds of food to at least 4,000 individuals and 1500 households via the self-serve food pantries in the children's hospital. Over this same period, our team has also created a system for efficiently connecting families to community-based resources for hunger and other basic needs.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Withdrawn
• Enrollment: 0
• Est. completion date: August 2022
• Est. primary completion date: September 2020
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• 18 years of age or older and English speaking, the primary caregiver to a dependent child younger than age 18, have been screened for household food insecurity, reside in the 16 zip code primary service area geography,

Exclusion Criteria:

• Caregivers of children in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) will be excluded to minimize infectious risk to critically ill newborns and their caregivers.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Health Behavior

Intervention

Other:
• Feed1st
Feed1st is a unique hospital-based hunger mitigation program that, since 2010, has operated low-cost, self-serve food pantries at Comer Children's Hospital. All parents and caregivers with a hospitalized child have 24/7 free access to these self-serve pantries with the option to eat food in the pantry, carry out as much food as needed, and contribute back to the pantry with food, volunteerism, or other resources. The program also offers free phone/text/email navigation for food support and other basic needs resources. We aim to conduct a 3-arm, randomized comparative effectiveness study to evaluate the impact, versus usual care, of two alternative referral strategies to increase Feed1st program utilization and impact.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
n/a

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Chicago

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Change from baseline in mental health-related quality of life at 6 months		Baseline, 4-7 days, 3 months, and 6 months