From the Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Residency Program.
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama.
South Med J. 2024 May;117(5):260-265. doi: 10.14423/SMJ.0000000000001684.
Food insecurity (FI) is defined as limited or uncertain access to sufficient food for a healthy and active lifestyle. Our objective was to explore how the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affected the FI status of pediatric patients and their families through interviewing caregivers who screen positive for FI.
Caregivers of all hospitalized patients at a tertiary children's hospital who screen positive for FI with a two-question screening tool were approached about enrolling in the study. Those who consented completed a presurvey and participated in a semistructured individual interview. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed according to the guidelines of thematic analysis using NVivo 12.
Interviews were conducted with 15 caregivers between July 2021 and January 2022. Caregivers were 100% female and 80% Black, 13% White, and 7% Hispanic/Latinx, with a mean age of 33 years. Seventy-three percent did not experience FI until the COVID-19 pandemic. Themes include lost wages, mothers forced out of the workforce due to childcare limitations, inflation and shortages of goods, increased stress/anxiety for caregivers and children, the centrality of extended family support, and the necessity/inadequacy of federal food programs.
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted unemployment and poverty and consequently exacerbated FI. Our findings point to the need to focus on proximal societal solutions, such as federal policies aimed at food assistance and childcare. Understanding the challenges related to FI that caregivers and patients experience can improve screening, support, and treatment of patients presenting for care and inform the design of necessary interventions for individuals and communities beyond COVID-19.
食物不安全（FI）被定义为获取充足食物以维持健康活跃生活方式的机会有限或不确定。我们的目的是通过访谈对 FI 筛查阳性的照顾者，探讨 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行如何影响儿科患者及其家庭的 FI 状况。
对在一家三级儿童医院住院的所有对 FI 筛查阳性且使用两问题筛查工具的患者的照顾者进行访谈，以了解他们参与研究的意愿。同意参加的人完成了预调查，并参加了半结构化的个人访谈。访谈使用 NVivo 12 按照主题分析指南进行录音、转录和分析。
2021 年 7 月至 2022 年 1 月期间，对 15 名照顾者进行了访谈。照顾者 100%为女性，80%为黑人，13%为白人，7%为西班牙裔/拉丁裔，平均年龄为 33 岁。73%的人直到 COVID-19 大流行才经历 FI。主题包括失业、因育儿限制而被迫离开工作岗位的母亲、通货膨胀和商品短缺、照顾者和儿童的压力/焦虑增加、大家庭支持的核心地位以及联邦食品计划的必要性/不足。
COVID-19 大流行影响了失业和贫困，进而加剧了 FI。我们的研究结果表明，需要关注近因社会解决方案，例如旨在提供食品援助和儿童保育的联邦政策。了解照顾者和患者在 FI 方面所面临的挑战，可以改善患者就诊时的筛查、支持和治疗，并为 COVID-19 以外的个人和社区设计必要的干预措施提供信息。
