Worldwide 37,000 people are forced to flee their homes every day due to conflict and persecution. The factors that lead people to leave their home countries often originate with economic deprivation and violence, escalated to a level that becomes a struggle for survival. Climate change, as it has accelerated over the last three to four […]
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Children with special health care needs (SHCNs) have significant medical and educational expenses affecting household finances. Housing instability can be detrimental to family well-being. Our objective was to evaluate housing instability in households of children with and without SHCNs. METHODS: Cross-sectional surveys (2013–2017) in English and Spanish of caregivers with children […]
This JAMA Pediatrics editorial focuses on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, evaluations of the program before and after the 2009 food package revisions, and a new JAMA Pediatrics quasi-experimental study by Hamad et al that looks at whether the revised 2009 WIC food package improved perinatal and birth […]
Background: Social determinants affect health, yet there are few systematic clinical strategies in primary care that leverage electronic health record (EHR) automation to facilitate screening for social needs and resource referrals. An EHR-based social determinants of health (SDOH) screening and referral model, adapted from the WE CARE model for pediatrics, was implemented in urban adult primary care. Objectives: This study aimed to: (1) understand […]
ABSTRACT: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps working families meet their nutritional needs. Families whose earned income increases in a given month may have their SNAP benefits abruptly reduced or cut off in the following month. Using sentinel sample data from 2007–15 for families with children younger than age four, we investigated how SNAP […]
Abstract: Immigrant families are known to be at higher risk of food insecurity compared to non-immigrant families. Documented immigrants in the U.S. <5 years are ineligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Immigration enforcement, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and policies negatively targeting immigrants have increased in recent years. Anecdotal reports suggest immigrant families forgo assistance, even […]
Within the health care sector, researchers, clinicians, and payers increasingly recognize the importance of the social determinants of health for improving maternal and child health. The article focuses on existing and emerging approaches to screening families for unstable housing circumstances. The authors describe how housing stability screening helps health care providers to better understand risks […]
Originally posted by the Journal of Applied Research on Children, a publication of the Children at Risk Institute. ABSTRACT Objective: To test whether household food insecurity (HFI) was associated with total annual hospitalization charges, annual days hospitalized, and charges per day, among low-income infants (months) with any non-neonatal hospital stays. Methods: Administrative inpatient hospital charge […]
Abstract • Objective: Homelessness among children is correlated with developmental delays, fair or poor health, and high healthcare utilization (AAP, 2013). Associations of homelessness specifically among infants younger than 12 months, however, are unknown. This study evaluates homelessness during infancy as a risk for adverse infant and maternal health and hardship. • Methods: From May […]