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A Treatment Package without Escape Extinction to Address Food Selectivity
Published on: August 21, 2015
Food Insecurity Screening and Referral Practices of Pediatric Clinicians in Metropolitan Washington, DC
Kofi Essel1,2,3, Michael Burke4, Laura Fischer1,2
1School of Medicine and Health Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
Insights
Pediatric clinicians rarely screened for food insecurity (FI) after a key policy change. Training is needed to address misconceptions and improve screening for this common household issue.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric primary care
- Public health
- Nutrition security
Background:
- 17.3% of US households with children faced food insecurity (FI) in 2022.
- Pediatric clinicians' role in addressing household food insecurity is critical.
- The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a policy statement on FI in 2015.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess pediatric clinicians' screening and management of food insecurity (FI).
- To evaluate practices immediately following the 2015 AAP FI Policy Statement.
Main Methods:
- Online survey of 85 primary care pediatric clinicians in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
- Data collected in 2016.
- Descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses, including Fisher's exact and Chi-square tests, were used.
Main Results:
- 66% of clinicians infrequently screened for FI.
- Only 13% utilized a standardized FI screening tool.
- Screening often occurred only when acute concerns like poor weight gain were present (70%).
Conclusions:
- Few pediatric clinicians screened for FI frequently or appropriately post-AAP policy release.
- Clinician misconceptions about FI invisibility are common.
- Enhanced training on screening and intervention techniques is necessary.
Background/Objectives:
In 2022, 17.3% of US households with children experienced food insecurity (FI). The objective of this study was to examine pediatric clinicians' FI screening and management immediately following the release of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 2015 FI Policy Statement.
Methods:
Data were collected in 2016 from 85 primary care pediatric clinicians via an online survey of clinicians in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Descriptive statistics were calculated using univariate/bivariate analyses. Fisher's exact test and Chi-square tests were used to explore the association between FI screening, health insurance, and clinician demographics.
Results:
Sixty-six percent of clinicians indicated that they infrequently screened for FI. Only 13% of clinicians used a standardized FI screening tool. Forty-five percent of clinicians screened for FI only when they perceived an acute concern. About 70% of them screened for FI when a patient presented with poor weight gain or was underweight.
Conclusions:
Immediately after the release of the AAP Policy Statement, it was found that few pediatric clinicians appropriately and frequently screened for FI in our regional sample. Our data emphasize the common misconceptions held by clinicians around FI and the necessity to incorporate training that underscores the invisibility of FI along with effective techniques to screen and intervene.
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