Food: A Three-Arm Study Examining Food Insecurity Interventions

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK)

Status and phase: Active, not recruiting; Phase 2

Conditions: Cancer Patients

Treatments: Behavioral: Focus groups; Behavioral: surveys

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01603316

12-099

Details and patient eligibility

About

The investigators have found that many patients getting treatment for cancer have trouble getting enough to eat, or do not always have enough money for food. When a patient has these problems it can lead to difficulties with completing cancer treatment. Across New York City, there are many hospitals that offer their patients food pantry services on location. The investigators would like to compare how food pantries within the hospital and two other food assistance options: monthly food vouchers and weekly grocery deliveries maybe possible solutions to this problem. The patient will be randomly assigned to one of the three different food program groups, which means everyone has an equal chance in being in any group, like a flip of a coin. The investigators hope to learn how to best help patients with trouble getting food and to see if this will help with completing cancer treatment.

The original RCT composed of study arms: 1) hospital -based food pantry (control), 2) food voucher program plus access to the food pantry, and 3) grocery delivery program plus access to the food pantry will remain open to accrual at Ralph Lauren Cancer Center. The other three sites of the original RCT, Lincoln Hospital, Queens Cancer Center and Brooklyn Hospital, have reached target accrual. Our modified RCT, to be carried out among an expanded cohort of cancer patients is composed of study arms : 1) Food Voucher Program (Voucher); 2) Home Grocery Delivery Program (Delivery); and 3) Medically-tailored, Hospital-based Food Pantry (Pantry).

For this RCT, we will enroll patients across Bronx hospitals- Jacobi Medical Center, St. Barnabas Hospital, and Montefiore Medical Center. For the new study arms, we will enroll patients across Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center, Jacobi Medical Center, St. Barnabas Medical Center, Montefiore Health System, New York Cancer & Blood Before Specialists, and Bellevue Hospital. Before conducting the RCT across Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center and the new sites in the Bronx, we will refine written educational materials to be used in the intervention through focus groups.

Enrollment: 606 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Focus Groups Inclusion Criteria:

• Breast cancer patient, Stage 1,2, or 3
• Currently undergoing treatment with chemotherapy and/or radiation
• Food insecure: score in the range of "very low" or "low" food security status on the USDA Household Food Security Module (score of 3 or higher)
• Language spoken: English or Spanish
• Age 18 or over

Intervention Inclusion Criteria:

• Enrolled in ICCAN (for the original arms only: pantry only, pantry + delivery, pantry + voucher)
• Within one month (+/- 1 month) of starting chemotherapy or within two weeks (+/- 2 weeks) of starting radiation therapy) (may be prior to or after starting treatment)
• Score in the range of 'very low' or 'low' food security status on the USDA Household Food Security Module (score of 3 or higher)
• Living independently (no patient in an assisted living facility)
• Age 18 or over
• Able to provide informed consent and respond to questionnaires in either English, Spanish or Mandarin (Mandarin for the original arms only: pantry only, pantry + delivery, pantry + voucher)
• Breast or gynecologic cancer diagnosis, Stage 1, 2, or 3 (for the updated arms only: 1) Food Voucher Program (Voucher); 2) Home Grocery Delivery Program (Delivery); and 3) Medically-tailored, Hospital-based Food Pantry (Pantry)

Clinician is eligible if he/she:

• Has an MD or DO degree
• Is the treating physician providing care to a patient enrolled to the study

Secondary Aim 6 Needs Assessment eligibility criteria:

• Current or past breast cancer diagnosis
• Living independently (no patient in an assisted living facility)
• Age 18 or over
• Able to provide informed consent and respond to questionnaires in either English, or Spanish

Exclusion criteria

Focus Groups Exclusion Criteria:

• Has a household member who has already participated (or agreed to participate)

Intervention Exclusion Criteria:

• Significant psychiatric disturbance verified by medical record sufficient to preclude completion of the assessment measures, interview or informed consent (i.e. acute psychiatric symptoms which require individual treatment)
• Presence of cognitive impairment disorder (i.e. delirium or dementia) sufficient to preclude meaningful informed consent and/or data collection
• Can not speak English, Spanish or Mandarin (Mandarin for the original arms only: pantry only, pantry + delivery, pantry + voucher)
• Has physical limitations that would prevent participation (e.g. blindness)
• Patient's household is currently receiving or applying for SNAP benefits (formerly known as Food Stamps) (for the original arms only: pantry only, pantry + delivery,pantry + voucher)

Secondary Aim 6 Needs Assessment Exclusion criteria:

• Significant psychiatric disturbance verified by medical record enough to preclude completion of the assessment measures, interview or informed consent (i.e. acute psychiatric symptoms which require individual treatment)
• Presence of cognitive impairment disorder (i.e. delirium or dementia) enough to preclude meaningful informed consent and/or data collection
• Cannot speak English or Spanish
• Has physical limitations that would prevent participation (e.g. blindness)
• Patient or family member has participated in other MSK IHCD trials related to social determinants of health

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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606 participants in 3 patient groups

Food Voucher Program (Voucher)

Active Comparator group

Description:

Food Voucher arm, each participant will receive a debit card specifically created for this program. Each month for the duration of study participation (6 months), the debit card will be credited with $128 \& given to the patient in person or via mail. Patients will be instructed to use these cards only for food purchases. If patients are not able to use the debit card at their local grocery stores, patients will be provided with a money order of the same dollar value instead of the debit card. They will be counseled on using their vouchers only for healthful foods, in a way that stretches their food dollars. Purchases will be tracked by having patients bring their receipts in for review each month when they come in to pick-up their next monthly vouche, or by providing electronic copies of receipts. Patients will be provided with a receipt holder to assist in storing receipts for review. For voucher cards sent via mail, patients will receive a mailing letter accompanying each card.

Treatment:

Behavioral: surveys

Behavioral: Focus groups

Home Grocery Delivery (Delivery)

Experimental group

Description:

In the Home Grocery Delivery arm, each participant will receive home grocery delivery from PeaPod grocery delivery service or from FreshDirect (depending on the participant"s zip code), worth $128 per month, for the duration of study participation (6 months). Patients in the Delivery arm will review a list of food categories and a subset of items in each category with a COA.

Treatment:

Behavioral: surveys

Behavioral: Focus groups

Medically-Tailored Hospital-Based Food Pantry (Pantry)

Experimental group

Description:

Patients in this arm will have access to the pantry for the duration of their study participation (6 months). Those accessing the medically-tailored food pantry will pick-up a pantry bag weekly or bi-weekly (per patient preference) at the hospital, either during one of their medical appointments or at another preferred time. Each patient's food prefereces will be assessed once during baseline and they will be given food bags, tailored when possible and when available to these preferences and to their medical needs and cultural preferences.

Treatment:

Behavioral: surveys

Behavioral: Focus groups