Healthy Eating Research Special Solicitation: COVID-19 and Socioeconomic Recovery Efforts

Overview

<p>This call for proposals aims to fund research on how COVID-19-related relief and recovery policies and programs impact child health and well-being.</p> <p>Healthy Eating Research (HER) is interested in understanding how social and economic programs and policies related to poverty reduction—such as financial payments to families, income assistance programs, housing assistance or housing security programs, and increased access to social services—impact child obesity, diet quality, food security, and other relevant child and family health outcomes among lower-income and families of color.</p> <p>Studies must focus on children and families in the United States, with high priority on those who are at highest risk for poor nutrition and obesity, specifically lower-income families and racially and ethnically diverse populations (e.g., Black, Latinx, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander). Evidence generated through this special solicitation should be timely and policy-relevant, and aimed towards identifying equitable policies and programs.</p> <p><strong>Targeted Age Groups, Priority Populations, and Topic Areas</strong></p> <p>The target population is children (0 to 18) and families in the United States, with high priority on those who are at highest risk for poor nutrition and obesity, specifically lower-income families and racially and ethnically diverse populations (e.g., Black, Latinx, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander).</p> <p>The COVID-19 recovery plans, like the CARES Act or ARPA, provide a unique opportunity for researchers to examine how or whether economic or social policies impact family and children’s health, nutrition, weight, or food security status. These could be policies directly focused on food and nutrition (e.g., nutrition assistance programs), or indirectly related such as improved income supports (e.g., child tax credits, increasing minimum wage), paid family leave, housing support, and healthcare access (e.g., Medicaid provisions). Examples of research topics include (but are not limited to):</p> <ul> <li>Relationships between affordable housing/housing security and indicators of child health, including food security.</li> <li>Impacts of increased benefits or social services for families (e.g., childcare subsidies, universal free meals) on disposable income and diet quality.</li> <li>Impacts of COVID-19 relief provisions on racial/ethnic or geographic disparities in health outcomes, such as diet and weight, among children and families.</li> <li>Identify structural barriers, facilitators, or unintended consequences of COVID-19 relief provisions at federal, state, or local levels for achieving improvements in child obesity, diet quality, food security, or other child health outcomes.</li> <li>Explore how funding for food/nutrition supports in the COVID-19 relief packages specifically impact family/child poverty, given poverty is a risk factor for obesity.</li> </ul> <p>All proposed studies must have a clear impact on children and families in the U.S. and have the potential to reduce inequities related to child health and well-being. Studies must have a link to child nutrition, diet quality, weight, or food insecurity, but can also include other child health indicators. Studies must have a clear, data-driven, and testable research question with a rigorous study design. A variety of research designs and analyses, including mixed methods and linkages of existing data sources, can be used to answer research questions.</p>