University of California, San Francisco
The goal of this clinical trial is to determine the best way to help families access social and economic support services in order to improve children's health for hospitalized children and their families/caregivers. The main question it aims to answer is, does providing active assistance from navigators to connect families to social/economic resources lead to greater improvements in child global health compared to providing passive referrals to resources among hospitalized children? All families will receive a tailored information sheet with referrals to community resources to address their social/economic needs and an introduction to how to search for resources using an online program. Researchers will compare families who receive these resources with families who also receive support from trained navigators, people with knowledge about local resources trained to connect families with resources. The study will examine whether the addition of navigator support improves families' access to services and children's health outcomes.
This multi-center randomized clinical trial (RCT) will compare the effectiveness of two interventions that help families connect with community-based resources to address social and economic needs (e.g., food insecurity, housing instability) on the health of hospitalized children: 1) passive referral (providing information to families about community-based organizations \[CBOs\] that can help address their social/economic needs and an introduction to an online resource to search for resources; vs. 2) active assistance by navigators -additionally providing the support of trained navigators to h…
INCLUSION CRITERIA: Aim 1 - Caregiver-Child Dyads Sample Caregiver-child dyads will be eligible to participate in the study if they meet the following criteria assessed during the recruitment and enrollment process: 1. children are hospitalized on the general pediatric/pediatric hospital medicine (PHM) team/service 2. the child is between the ages of 0-17 3. the child's caregiver is \>17 years-old 4. the caregiver speaks English or Spanish 5. the family lives in the same county as the hospital or in a neighboring county to the hospital 6. the child is not in Child Protective Services custod…
Participants will receive the same resources as in the passive referral group as well as support from navigators for up to 3 months after enrollment. Navigators will review resources with caregivers, assist with completion of intake applications when applicable, and provide support related to accessing social services.
Participants in this group will receive a list of local resources to address social needs based on the social risks for which they screen positive and where they live. Research staff will use Findhelp, an online platform that helps identify social resources (e.g., food assistance, housing support) based on zip code, to inform creation of the lists. In addition, families will receive a brief introduction on how to access and use Findhelp.