Funded Projects

Assessing Caregiver Perspectives on WIC Utilization

Project Year

2025

City & State

Bronx, New York

Program Name

CATCH Resident

Topic

Nutrition

Program Description

Recent studies of The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) utilization show families are content with services such as formula, nutrition education, breastfeeding education, and supplies but concerned with WIC access, rising food costs, mixed messages about healthy vs unhealthy foods, and feeling stigmatization with WIC use. As obesity, diabetes, and heart disease are increasing it is important for families with young children to have access to and an understanding of healthy foods. The Bronx consistently has the worst health outcomes in New York State. The WIC office on 161st street and the Comprehensive Health Care Center (CHCC)are both located in the poorest congressional district in the United States. Through this partnership we would like to assess and ultimately improve families' access to WIC enrollment, services, and improve access to nutrition education.    As of 2023, WIC served a total of 6.6 million individuals in the United States. This includes approximately 1.5 million women, 1.5 million infants, and 3.6 million children which is approximately 50% of eligible families.  In New York City, there were approximately 209,000 individuals enrolled in WIC.  In the South Bronx, almost 80% of the children are covered by Medicaid and 90% of the pediatric patients at CHCC. As a Montefiore FQHC, CHCC serves about 8,000 patients a year and does about 2,400 well child visit in children 0-5 years old annually. We hope to interview 50 families enrolled in WIC to understand access and needs.   Our project aims to collaborate with WIC and parents of 0–5-year-olds to improve access and utilization of all services provided by WIC, particularly nutrition education services.  We will examine the parent's perspectives using administered surveys and later pilot nutrition education sessions. WIC is a critical program that provides many families with various forms of nutritional support, particularly in the first year of life when infants are breastfeeding and/or drinking formula. As of 2020, WIC participation within the first year was 81.7%, but declined to 56.9% after the first year of life.. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, both families and WIC employees report that online applications have been helpful and simplifies getting food. However, less is known about the benefits and drawbacks of the new format of WICs in- person and remote nutrition education. To better understand family's experiences, barriers, and support, with nutrition education through WIC, we will ask what other sources they identify as sources of nutrition education (e.g. family, doctors, community organizations, social media) and ask how, if, and what they would like to learn more about nutrition (e.g. printed materials, QR codes, peer sessions, doctor or nutritionist 1:1 or group sessions). Based on data collected in the survey, we will then pilot teaching /resource interventions as part of the Bronx Healthy Start Program, and through resident involvement in the community pediatrics rotation. Once data is collected, we plan to use it to put together a more comprehensive intervention with teaching sessions available to a broader group and resources available. These community resources will be collected with the help of the WIC office, the CHW office, and our residents on community pediatrics rotations. Survey and teaching session participants will be provided with a 20-dollar gift card to the local supermarket. We will also have monthly meetings with the WIC office over the course of this project, with 2-3 in-person meetings to discuss project planning. After project completion we plan to continue meeting quarterly during community pediatrics rotations.  

Project Goal

Our project aims to collaborate with WIC and parents of 0–5-year-olds to improve access and utilization of all services provided by WIC, particularly nutrition education services.

Project Objective 1

By month four, identify families seen at CHCC and local WIC who may have concerns about nutrition.  

Project Objective 2

By month ten, assess 50 families through surveys for nutritional understanding, WIC access.

Project Objective 3

By month 12 complete 2 pilot education sessions and collect post-survery assessment of each session. We aim for 15 families per session for a total of 40 families. 

AAP District

District II

Institutional Name

The Children's Hospital at Montefiore

Contact 1

Colleen Beckford, MD