Integration of Nutritional Resources and Public Food Benefits Information within a Safety-Net Health System to Address Food Insecurity as a Social Determinant of Health

Information Sheet about participation in a research study titled: Integration of Nutritional Resources and Public Food Benefits Information within a Safety-Net Health System to Address Food Insecurity as a Social Determinant of Health

To be conducted at Parkland Health, Dallas, Texas

Who is conducting the study? Kristin Alvarez, Director of Clinical Innovation at the Center of Innovation and Value at Parkland, and her team are conducting this study.

What is the purpose of the research? The purpose of this research study is to help understand how health systems can help patients access information about nutritional resources and public benefits for food security. Our study involves a telephone survey about your experience accessing nutritional resources and public food benefits from the health system and understanding how this information affected your ability to obtain necessary resources related to your food insecurity needs.

Who is asked to participate? You are eligible to take part in this study if you received information about nutritional resources and public food benefits from Parkland in the form of a flyer or website.

Do you have to be in this study? You do not have to take part if you don't want to. You may also leave the study at any time. If you decide to stop taking part in this study, it will not affect your relationship with the UT Southwestern or Parkland staff or doctors. Whether you take part or not will have no effect on your legal rights or the quality of your health care. If you are a medical student, fellow, faculty, or staff at the Medical Center, your status will not be affected in any way.

What are the Research Procedures? We will do a one-time telephone survey to ask you about the information that you received about nutritional resources and public food benefits from Parkland. This survey should take about 5 minutes. We will record your survey responses in a secure system without any identifying information. We will not include any information from your medical record, but we may ask you in the survey about your health.

What are the Risks and Benefits? The risk of taking part in this study could be to your privacy, as we understand that food insecurity, utilization of nutritional resources and public food benefits, and health are both very private. However, we will not collect any identifying information like your name or birthday for this study. There may be no personal benefits from being in this study. We hope this study will help patients experiencing food insecurity get information about nutritional resources and public benefits for food security they may need now or in the future.

Costs and Compensation: The only cost of participation is your time. There is no compensation for participation in this study.

Confidentiality: Only the study team will be able to see your answers to our questions. All information we learn about you will be kept private. None of the data collected will include any information unique to you. If this study is published anywhere, you won’t be named in any way. Any information we get from this study could be used in another study in the future without telling you about it or getting your permission. However, any information that identifies you will be removed before your information is sent.

Contact Information for questions or comments: To participate in this study or ask questions about the study, please call us at 214-590-4049, Monday-Friday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) oversees research on human subjects. HRPP and Institutional Review Board (IRB) representatives will answer any questions about your rights as a research subject, and take any concerns, comments or complaints you may wish to offer. You can contact the HRPP by calling the office at 214-648-3060.

Before you agree to participate, make sure you have read (or been read) the information provided above; your questions have been answered to your satisfaction; and you have freely decided to participate in this research.