CommunityRx-Hunger (CRx-H)

CommunityRx-Hunger: A Hospital-based Intervention for Primary Caregivers of Children Admitted to the Hospital

CommunityRx-Hunger (CRx-H) is a hospital-based intervention that addresses food insecurity and other health-related social needs such as transportation, housing, utilities, and safety. Study team members are recruiting caregivers at the time of their child's hospital admission at a large urban children's hospital. For Aim 1, the primary outcome is self-efficacy among food insecure caregivers compared to those who receive the usual standard of care. For Aim 2, the primary outcome is satisfaction with care compared between food secure and food insecure caregivers.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Food Insecurity
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Community Rx-Hunger (CRx-H)

Detailed Description

CommunityRx-Hunger (CRx-H) is a double-blinded randomized controlled trial aimed at increasing self-efficacy among caregivers with food insecurity in the household. CRx-H is recruiting primary caregivers of hospitalized children at a large urban children's hospital at the time of admission. Aim 1: Researchers are studying whether the intervention will increase self-efficacy among food insecure caregivers compared to those who receive the usual standard of care. Aim 2: Researchers will enroll and randomize caregivers with and without food insecurity to the intervention to compare satisfaction with care.

Eligible, self-identified caregivers will complete a baseline survey during the child's hospital stay, followed by phone surveys at 7, 30, 90, 180 days, and 12 months. Caregivers randomized to the intervention will receive a tailored list of resources to address food insecurity and other health-related social needs, plus a brief educational component delivered by a trained member of our research team. Cases will receive a "booster" dose of the resource list prior to discharge. After discharge, cases will receive proactive text messages about those same community resources.

All caregivers (regardless of research arm) will receive a series of text messages related to the study such as reminders to schedule the phone survey with a member of the research team.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 660
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Illinois
    • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60637
      • University of Chicago

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Native English or Spanish speaker
• Living in 1 of 27 zip codes in the study's target region
• Self-identify as a primary caregiver of a child <18 years old hospitalized in a large urban children's hospital
• Ability to send and receive text messages
• Access to a mobile phone and agrees to receive text messages from the study

Exclusion Criteria:

• Previous participation in a CRx research study.
• Caregivers of newborns in the hospital
• Patient hospital stay is less than 24 hours
• Patient hospital stay is 30 days or more
• Patient has an eating disorder as indicated in the EMR

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Usual Care + Intervention (Case); Cases will receive the CommunityRx Intervention.	Other: Community Rx-Hunger (CRx-H); The CRx-H Intervention provides "dosages" of health content that offer assistance for food insecurity and other health-related social needs. A caregiver randomized to the intervention will receive a hard-copy print-out of their tailored list of resources to address food insecurity. A member of our research team will deliver this list and provide a brief educational component which includes: a brief, structured script about the common problem of food insecurity in households with children and co-occuring HRSNs, review of the resource list which includes nearby, vetted resources to address these needs and coaching on how to activate resources on the list. Prior to discharge, the caregiver will receive a duplicate copy of the list of resources. After discharge, the caregiver will receive text messages at a frequency based on the Critical Time Intervention (CTI) Model, from baseline to 3 months post discharge, in order to receive ongoing support by a research team member.
No Intervention: Usual Care (Control); Controls will receive the usual standard care, which consists of information about hospital food resources and access to Feed1st hospital food pantries prior to discharge.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
(Aim 1) Caregiver Self-efficacy at 12 Months Among Food Insecure Caregivers	Self-efficacy is measured by Bandura's Self-Efficacy Scale which asks, "How confident are you in your ability to find resources in your community that help you manage your health?" Responses will be assessed on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from "not at all confident" to "completely confident."	12 months
(Aim 2) Caregiver Satisfaction With Hospital Discharge	Satisfaction with hospital discharge is measured by the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers Survey (HCAHPS); "Child HCAHPS" which includes 8 items (range 0-100 with higher values representing higher satisfaction). Response options are "Yes, definitely," "Yes, somewhat" and "No." The items ask about the child and the hospital related to their recent stay.	7 days post discharge from the hospital

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Chicago
• Collaborators: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Stacy T Lindau, MD, MPP, University of Chicago

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 6, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 30, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): September 30, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 19, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 19, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): November 21, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 19, 2024
• Last Verified: November 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Clinical Trial; Caregivers; Self-Efficacy; Food Insecurity; Hunger; Health-Related Social Needs
• Other Study ID Numbers: IRB20-0324; 1R01MD012630-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No