Editor’s Note: Abby Temple (she/her/hers) is a first-year resident physician in the Boston Combined Residency Program. She is interested in the integration of advocacy and health equity research into undergraduate medical education. Abby is interested in pursuing a fellowship specializing in gastroenterology or critical care. - Rachel Y. Moon, MD, Associate Editor, Digital Media, Pediatrics
For many people, meals during a typical weekday are like this: you make something quick for breakfast to eat on your commute, grab lunch with a coworker around noon, then come home and throw together a meal or pick something up from a restaurant for dinner. However, many of our patients and their families do not have the luxury of not having to think about where their groceries or next meal will come from.
In 2021, the prevalence of food insecurity among families in the US was 10.2% and was disproportionately higher among families headed by single parent, or who identify as non-Hispanic Black or Hispanic.
While many institutions have taken strides toward addressing this need through hospital-based food pantries and screening for health-related socioeconomic risks, the stigma associated with identifying oneself as having a need or engaging in food assistance services still serves as a barrier for patients with food insecurity.
In an article being early released in Pediatrics this week entitled, “Food Insecurity and Experiences of Discrimination among Caregivers of Hospitalized Children,” Alexis Cacioppo and colleagues at the University of Chicago and the Urban Institute discuss how food insecurity increases perceived discrimination in healthcare settings (10.1542/peds.2023-061750). The authors found that, compared to their food-secure counterparts, patient caregivers from food-insecure households are twice as likely to experience discrimination.
This illuminates the issue with current screening practices—if identifying oneself as food insecure makes it more likely that one will experience discrimination in the healthcare setting, why would one purposefully call out their need? The next question is how do health care professionals screen for social needs such as food insecurity while also reducing the amount of stigmatization and discrimination patients experience in healthcare settings?
The authors present a universal approach to intervention. Instead of screening families for food insecurity, they suggest that providing all patients with resources to address food insecurity can potentially reduce stigma.
This article serves as a reminder that when we screen our patients for food insecurity, we need to ensure these patients receive the care they may not be asking for during appointments.
