Pediatric primary care is changing. Health providers are beginning to address family and community stressors such as food insecurity, exposure to neighborhood violence, family trauma and maternal depression, all of which can be detrimental to child health and brain development.
While this expanded view of primary care is promising, these issues can also be sensitive in nature, making it critical that screening approaches and interventions should consider parents’ viewpoints and perspectives.
UHF awarded a $100,000 grant to Public Agenda, a New York City-based nonprofit organization, to gain insight into parent expectations and receptivity to new primary care-based innovations that address a range of risks and protective factors influencing child development. Project work included eight focus groups, which sought to understand what parents view as the most challenging dimensions of raising young children, parents’ expectations and desires related to whether and how these issues are addressed by pediatric primary care providers, and barriers to following through with recommendations and referrals given to community organizations.
A report summarizing all findings, It's About Trust, was published in June 2019.