This grant to Public Agenda, a nonprofit research organization based in New York, supported its project, Parent Perspectives on Pediatric Primary Care Innovations. The project developed, conducted, and analyzed eight focus groups in New York City, to understand low-income parents' openness to and perspectives on primary care-based innovations, particularly those that address social determinants that influence child development. The research sought to understand 1) the most challenging dimensions of raising children for parents; 2) parent expectations and desires related to whether and how these issues are addressed by pediatric primary care providers; and 3) barriers to following through with recommendations and referrals given in primary care. To develop the focus moderator guide, project staff interviewed pediatricians regarding existing nontraditional well-child interventions, and barriers to integrating these interventions into practice workflows.
The project’s report, It’s About Trust: Low-Income Parents’ Perspectives on How Pediatricians Can Screen for Social Determinants of Health, is based on discussions conducted over two months with 88 low-income New York City parents, all with children ages five and under, in the eight focus groups.