The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if an intervention to provide food support to families who are part of government or self-pay insurances will provide benefits. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Determine the effect of implementing an in-hospital food support intervention for low-income parents on reutilization and family-centered outcomes. * Among families with baseline food insecurity, determine the effectiveness of a post-discharge food support intervention and as-needed social work referral on reutilization and family-centered outcomes. Researchers will compare the in-hospital food support intervention and will be rolled out to sequential hospital units. In addition, the post-discharge food support intervention will be compared to standard discharge. Some participants will: * Receive in-hospital meal cards or standard care during hospitalization * Receive post-discharge food support intervention or standard discharge * Complete a 14-day post discharge follow-up survey
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
9,119
The in-hospital food support intervention will provide two meals for up to two parents per day.
The post-discharge intervention will provide families with grocery gift cards and frozen meals at the time of discharge.
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
RECRUITING30-day urgent reutilization
Validated measure of unplanned readmission/ED/urgent care use via electronic health record (EHR)
Time frame: 30 days post-discharge
Hunger during hospitalization
USDA Six-Item Short Form of the Food Security Survey Module, adapted to measure hunger in hospital. Families with lower scores are less likely to experience food insecurity. The family's level of food insecurity increases with the score. * Raw score 0-1-High food security * Raw score 2-4-Low food security * Raw score 5-6-Very low food security
Time frame: Within 36 hours before discharge
Post-discharge hunger and food insecurity
USDA Six-Item Short Form of the Food Security Survey Module. Families with lower scores are less likely to experience food insecurity. The family's level of food insecurity increases with the score. * Raw score 0-1-High food security * Raw score 2-4-Low food security * Raw score 5-6-Very low food security
Time frame: 14 Days post-discharge
30-day unplanned readmission
Validated measure of unplanned readmission
Time frame: 30 Days post-discharge
30-day Emergency department utilization
Emergency department utilization
Time frame: 30 Days post-discharge
Understanding of discharge instructions Confidence in care at home
Pediatric Transition Experience Measure (P-TEM)-Transition Preparation Domain
Time frame: 14 Days post-discharge
Return to normal routine
Family designed measure that assesses a family's return to normal routines
Time frame: 14 Days post-discharge
Post-Discharge coping
Post-Discharge Difficulty Coping Scale is measured at 14-day post-discharge phone call. Post-Discharge Coping Difficulty Scale uses an 11-point scaling format (0-10) with total scores ranging from 0 to 100. Higher scores represent greater coping difficulty.
Time frame: 14 Days post-discharge
Out of pocket expenses
Expenses paid by the family during the hospitalization
Time frame: Within 36 hours before discharge
Ability to pay for medications
Family-reported measure regarding difficulty paying for medications
Time frame: 14 Days post-discharge
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