Caregiver Hospital-Based Food Insecurity in a Canadian Tertiary Care Pediatric Hospital

Hospital-based food insecurity (HBFI) is the inability of caregivers to obtain adequate food for themselves during their child's hospital admission. This quality-improvement study aimed to reduce hospital-related food costs through the provision of caregiver meal assistance, namely meal cards for at-risk caregivers and snack bags for all caregivers.

This study took place on a general pediatric inpatient unit at a tertiary care hospital. The outcome measure was the percentage of caregivers reporting a reduction in hospital-related food costs. The process measures were as follows: (1) percentage of caregivers reporting HBFI who received the intervention, (2) percentage of caregivers screened for HBFI, and (3) caregiver satisfaction. Statistical process run charts were used to analyze the impact of the interventions.

The percentage of caregivers reporting a reduction in hospital-related food costs increased from 0% to 92.9% during the study period. The percentage of caregivers reporting HBFI who accessed an intervention increased from 0% to 55% with the meal cards and ultimately reached 93.1% with the snack bags. The rate of screening for at-risk caregivers remained very low, increasing from 6% to 14%. By the end of the study period, 80% of participating caregivers were satisfied with the meal cards, and 100% were satisfied with the snack bags.

The caregiver meal assistance interventions increased caregiver-reported reduction in hospital-related food costs, especially following the provision of snack bags to all caregivers. This study's findings support the need for a program with a universal strategy to address caregiver HBFI.