20 - Addressing Diaper Insecurity within Pediatric Primary Care: Implementation and Initial Outcomes

Publication Number: 4019.20

Vaidehi Jokhakar, Cohen Children's Medical Center, New Hyde Park, NY, United States; Samantha Catalano, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Smithtown, NY, United States; Rachel Kuzmishin, Northwell Health, New Hyde Park, NY, United States; Abigail Seide, Cohen Children's Medical Center, Manhasset, NY, United States; Sophia Jan, Cohen Children's Medical Center of Northwell Health, New Hyde Park, NY, United States; Caren Steinway, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Queens, NY, United States

Background: Diaper insecurity affects nearly half of American families with young children and can lead to adverse health, social, and financial outcomes. Access to community resources and public benefit programs addressing diaper insecurity are limited by systemic and individual barriers: limited federal support, long waitlists, insufficient supply, and logistical challenges such as lack of time, childcare, or transportation. Pediatric primary care practices offer a strategic and accessible setting to connect families with needed resources given frequent well-child visits in early childhood. Providing in-house resources may help alleviate these barriers.

Objective: To evaluate the implementation and initial outcomes of a pediatric primary care-based diaper bank designed to identify and address diaper insecurity in a large, urban academic practice.

Design/Methods: As part of routine care, caregivers of patients under 4 years old completed a Social Drivers of Health (SDH) screening at well-child visits. Caregivers identifying a need for child supplies are contacted by Patient Navigators to assess their needs. Families with identified diaper need are provided with a minimum of 50 diapers through a diaper bank integrated within pediatric primary care and are connected with local community-based resources for ongoing support. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize patient demographics, the prevalence of co-occurring SDH needs, and the material resource distribution from January to September 2025.

Results: This pediatric primary care practice served 8,494 unique patients in Q1-Q3 of 2025, with 88.9% identifying as non-White. 3,116 (36.7%) of patients seen were under the age of 4. Of 1,663 families with children under age 4 who were screened, 13.8% (n=230) reported a need for child supplies. A high co-occurrence of needs was observed: 86.5% (n=199) of families also screened positive for at least one additional SDH need. The program successfully distributed diapers to 76.5% (n=176) of families identified with this need. The number of families receiving diapers increased steadily by quarter: 44 families in Q1, 61 in Q2, and 71 in Q3.

Conclusion(s): This initiative demonstrates the feasibility and importance of implementing universal SDH screening and a practice-based diaper bank to address material hardship. Providing tangible supplies through this program can help families reallocate funds for other essentials. While initial distribution data indicates significant reach, further evaluation is needed to determine the long-term effects of this pediatric primary care diaper bank on family health and well-being.