Charitable Food & Healthcare Industry Partnership Efforts Against Food Insecurity: A Mixed Methods Programmatic Evaluation

Objectives: This study aims to explore healthcare-charitable food partnerships related to food is medicine approaches from the perspective of 1) Healthcare professionals; 2) charitable food professionals. Methods: Mixed methods evaluation study via an electronic survey and interviews. Participants were recruited via email from a large midwestern regional food bank and their current healthcare partners. Research instruments for this scope of work are limited. The study used an investigator designed instrument informed by the research question and existing instruments (e.g. Partnership Assessment Tool for Health (PATH) with questions focused on partnership elements (e.g. shared benefits, barriers, data collection/sharing). Analysis consists of descriptive statistics to report survey findings and thematic coding to identify key interview themes. Results: The current study is ongoing, and the following findings are preliminary. Of the 34 health care partner sites contacted, seven completed the electronic survey and one completed the follow-up interview currently. Majority of healthcare partners (57%) indicated their organization (healthcare entity) was the primary program funder and only one partner reported collecting patient health data. Main barriers reported include increasing costs of resources (29%), staff/volunteer shortages (29%), and increased demand for healthcare service organizations (29%). Regarding relationships, healthcare participants indicated a high level of mutual respect (66%) but were neutral when asked about the partnerships' ability to contribute higher levels of funding opportunities (50%). Data collection is projected to end in March 2024, with additional analysis and final findings to follow. Conclusions: As food is medicine interventions continue to emerge nationally, it is vital to conduct program evaluations to measure successful program partnerships. This study developed a novel instrument aimed at evaluating healthcare-charitable food partnerships with preliminary results highlighting potential benefits and gaps in this collaborative work. Funding Sources: Funding was supported by the Undergraduate Research Office at the University of Missouri Kansas City through the Students Engaged in Arts and Research (SEARCH) grant mechanism.