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“The Shelves Are Bare”: The Impact of COVID-19 on Families Enrolled in a Pediatric Produce Prescription Program

Objectives A large pediatric clinic in Flint, Michigan, implemented a produce prescription program for youth to address enduring challenges with food access and food insecurity. Approximately 18 months later, on March 23, 2020, the State of Michigan issued a “stay home, stay safe” executive order in...

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Autores principales: Saxe-Custack, Amy, Lofton, Heather, Dawson, Chantel, Egan, Sarah, Hanna-Attisha, Mona
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Cureus 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9754141/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36540453
http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.31540
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author Saxe-Custack, Amy
Lofton, Heather
Dawson, Chantel
Egan, Sarah
Hanna-Attisha, Mona
author_facet Saxe-Custack, Amy
Lofton, Heather
Dawson, Chantel
Egan, Sarah
Hanna-Attisha, Mona
author_sort Saxe-Custack, Amy
collection PubMed
description Objectives A large pediatric clinic in Flint, Michigan, implemented a produce prescription program for youth to address enduring challenges with food access and food insecurity. Approximately 18 months later, on March 23, 2020, the State of Michigan issued a “stay home, stay safe” executive order in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study sought to (1) explore caregiver experiences with access to and utilization of the prescription program during COVID-19; and (2) understand perceived changes in the food environment during the “stay home, stay safe” executive order. Methods Researchers collected data through recorded, semi-structured telephone interviews with caregivers of children who received at least one produce prescription and had previously enrolled in a preliminary effectiveness study on the prescription program. We transcribed the recordings verbatim for textual analysis. Examining the qualitative data using thematic analysis, we identified patterns across transcripts and formulated illustrative themes. Results Fifty-six caregivers (mean age, 41.3 ± 10.3 years) participated in interviews. The majority were female (91%), African American (70%), and Flint residents (75%). Recurrent themes, each centered around changes in the food environment resulting from COVID-19, emerged: (1) produce prescription access and utilization; (2) food access constraints; (3) food shopping adjustments; and (4) food insecurity stress. Perceived consequences of COVID-19 included increased anxiety related to food shopping and food insecurity alongside challenges accessing and utilizing the produce prescription program. Conclusions This study highlights the many ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable families. More comprehensive efforts are necessary to address substantial barriers to healthy food access and affordability caused by the recent pandemic.
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spelling pubmed-97541412022-12-19 “The Shelves Are Bare”: The Impact of COVID-19 on Families Enrolled in a Pediatric Produce Prescription Program Saxe-Custack, Amy Lofton, Heather Dawson, Chantel Egan, Sarah Hanna-Attisha, Mona Cureus Public Health Objectives A large pediatric clinic in Flint, Michigan, implemented a produce prescription program for youth to address enduring challenges with food access and food insecurity. Approximately 18 months later, on March 23, 2020, the State of Michigan issued a “stay home, stay safe” executive order in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study sought to (1) explore caregiver experiences with access to and utilization of the prescription program during COVID-19; and (2) understand perceived changes in the food environment during the “stay home, stay safe” executive order. Methods Researchers collected data through recorded, semi-structured telephone interviews with caregivers of children who received at least one produce prescription and had previously enrolled in a preliminary effectiveness study on the prescription program. We transcribed the recordings verbatim for textual analysis. Examining the qualitative data using thematic analysis, we identified patterns across transcripts and formulated illustrative themes. Results Fifty-six caregivers (mean age, 41.3 ± 10.3 years) participated in interviews. The majority were female (91%), African American (70%), and Flint residents (75%). Recurrent themes, each centered around changes in the food environment resulting from COVID-19, emerged: (1) produce prescription access and utilization; (2) food access constraints; (3) food shopping adjustments; and (4) food insecurity stress. Perceived consequences of COVID-19 included increased anxiety related to food shopping and food insecurity alongside challenges accessing and utilizing the produce prescription program. Conclusions This study highlights the many ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable families. More comprehensive efforts are necessary to address substantial barriers to healthy food access and affordability caused by the recent pandemic. Cureus 2022-11-15 /pmc/articles/PMC9754141/ /pubmed/36540453 http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.31540 Text en Copyright © 2022, Saxe-Custack et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Public Health
Saxe-Custack, Amy
Lofton, Heather
Dawson, Chantel
Egan, Sarah
Hanna-Attisha, Mona
“The Shelves Are Bare”: The Impact of COVID-19 on Families Enrolled in a Pediatric Produce Prescription Program
title “The Shelves Are Bare”: The Impact of COVID-19 on Families Enrolled in a Pediatric Produce Prescription Program
title_full “The Shelves Are Bare”: The Impact of COVID-19 on Families Enrolled in a Pediatric Produce Prescription Program
title_fullStr “The Shelves Are Bare”: The Impact of COVID-19 on Families Enrolled in a Pediatric Produce Prescription Program
title_full_unstemmed “The Shelves Are Bare”: The Impact of COVID-19 on Families Enrolled in a Pediatric Produce Prescription Program
title_short “The Shelves Are Bare”: The Impact of COVID-19 on Families Enrolled in a Pediatric Produce Prescription Program
title_sort “the shelves are bare”: the impact of covid-19 on families enrolled in a pediatric produce prescription program
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9754141/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36540453
http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.31540
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