The Northwest AHEC Practice Support Team is committed to promote understanding and improve the orientation of Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) for North Carolinians. In order to support these goals, we will share a publication on SDOH each month on our Practice Support Blog. This week, we would like to introduce an article "Suburban Families' Experience With Food Insecurity Screening in Primary Care Practices" from PubMed.Gov. Our practice support team has identified this article as a valuable resource to healthcare professionals in our region. The article touches on a number of food insecurity issues which enable the healthcare provider to look at the patient as a whole person instead of a specific condition in order to improve overall health outcomes.
The study examined parental perceptions of screening for Food Insecurity (FI), how FI impacted the family, and recommendations for how practices could more effectively address FI. The article summarizes strategies which primary care physicians and pediatricians can employ to help families deal with food insecurity, particularly in suburban settings. In many settings, food insecurity is generally not addressed during patient-provider interviews, but it can have a profound impact on health and is a common challenge for patients in North Carolina.
Food insecurity, the lack of consistent access to enough food for an active and healthy life, is a major public health problem. Households with children are at higher risk, and 16.6% of US households with children suffer from food insecurity
Health care professionals can implement screening and referral tools to promote improved health outcomes for patients in pediatric and primary clinics.
Check out our full list of Social Determinants of Health Resources below!