A SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION TO FOOD INSECURITY: FAMILY EXPERIENCES AT AN URBAN FOOD PHARMACY PROGRAM

Low-income families in cities like Philadelphia are at increased risk for food insecurity and related health problems. The CHOP Healthy Weight Program Food Pharmacy emerged as one solution to increase access to fresh foods and alleviate this issue. However, the program has not yet engaged in quality improvement efforts to understand the impact on participating families and areas for refinement. The objective of this project is to assess how the food pharmacy program meets families’ needs and identify opportunities to enhance families’ access to healthy food options. We will make recommendations based on the analysis of semi-structured interviews with families who participated in the program. We conducted 24 semi-structured interviews with caregivers of patients enrolled in the program as part of a qualitative quality improvement project. We explored several questions, including perceived benefits and challenges of program participation for families and how patients perceive their level of self-agency in the food they receive. We created a thematic codebook and analyzed the interview data in NVivo. We observed financial constraints had a significant influence on families’ food choices before and after participating in the program, often limiting access to nutritious produce. Families reported many positive impacts of participation, including adoption of healthier eating habits and perceiving better physical health resulting from dietary changes. This project provides recommendations to CHOP for further development of the food pharmacy program, as well as contributes to a broader understanding of the role food pharmacies play in addressing systemic health issues associated with inequitable food access.