Current Studies

If you would like to learn more or are interested in participating in one of these studies, please email us at niche@utsouthwestern.edu or complete the eligibility screener under each description.

Medically Tailored Groceries and Food Resource Coaching for Patients of a Safety-net Clinic

Food is Medicine programs connect people to healthy foods that help them manage health problems. One example is a medically tailored grocery program. This program provides a patient with no cost groceries that are selected to help their medical condition. For example, a patient receives fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-salt, low-sugar foods if they have high blood pressure. Food resource coaching is another strategy for eating healthy food. This approach provides a coach that supports learning healthy eating habits when facing financial challenges by using available food resources. Among other strategies, a coach may teach the patient how to meal plan and shop at nearby stores to make healthy and delicious meals.

In our study, we ask patients with lower-income and at least one chronic health problem at a safety-net clinic if they want to participate in a Food is Medicine program. Patients that want to participate are randomly placed into one of three groups. One group gets medically tailored groceries only, and one group gets medically tailored groceries and food resource coaching from a no cost food market for four months. The third group gets food from the same market for four months, but food is not medically tailored, and they do not meet with a coach. Participants have the option to continue getting food from the market at the end of the study if they want to.

This study will help us learn what patients think about Food is Medicine programs and how to best carry out these programs in the future. The study will also help us determine if providing medically tailored groceries and food resource coaching helps patients improve their diet. We will use what we learn in this study to create a larger and longer program that can be provided in more safety-net clinics. Our main goal is to build a sustainable and helpful program for patients that may not otherwise have access to healthy foods and eating habits that set the foundation for better health.

Read our open access protocol manuscript here: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/1/e096122

This study has been completed, analyses are ongoing.

Collaborators: Crossroads Community Services, Jaclyn Albin, MD, CCMS, Tammy Leonard, PhD, MS, Milette Siler, MBA-HC, RDN, LD, CCSMS, Sandi Pruitt, PhD, MPH, Michael Bowen, MD, MPH

Screening and responding to food insecurity in patients receiving cancer treatment

Food insecurity impacts 1 in 8 people in the United States and 1 in 4 people receiving cancer treatment. Food insecurity is associated with poor dietary quality, adverse health conditions, and worse cancer treatment outcomes. To address food insecurity among people with cancer, screening and effective response programs are needed. In this study, the team screens infusion patients at the Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center RedBird clinic for food insecurity and refers those who screen positive to enroll in a study where participants are randomized to receive one of three evidence-based food security programs: 1) Free community food market referral only, 2) Market referral plus nutritious no-prep, ready-to-eat meals, or 3) Market referral plus $75 grocery vouchers. The study team will assess improvements in patient food security, diet quality, satisfaction, and wellbeing over time. Results of this study will inform the design of a food security response program for patients.

This study is completed, analyses are ongoing.

Collaborators: Sandi Pruitt, PhD, MPH