Elevating communities into self-sufficiency through federally-funded health partnerships

Purpose: This qualitative study is to identify programing that encourages increased self-sufficiency in SNAP recipients. The goal was to identify themes related to successful self-sufficiency programming at federally-funded health centers/health programs (HCHPs). The study also investigated the role of social determinants of health in relation to achieving self-sufficiency. Method: A series of 45-minute to 1-hour-long interviews were conducted to explore the perspectives of seven total staff at seven federally-funded HCHPs across the U.S. western region. Using Nvivo, a qualitative data analysis software, responses were categorized into six themes: patient-centered care, one-stop-shop/integrated care model, community partnerships, organizational and staff support, leadership buy-in, and funding. Themes were further broken down into sub-categories to facilitate the process of developing best practices for implementation. Findings: Results were used to develop 12 best practices for implementation, which included: conducting needs assessments and focus groups, introducing a community health worker (CHW) program, hiring a behavioral health consultant (BHC), the need for wrap-around models of service delivery, coalition development, integrated work planning (external), use of MOUs, cross-departmental trainings, PDSA cycles, having mission and vision-aligned programming, and yearly work planning (internal). Best practices are suggested in order to maximize federal funding for programming that promotes self-sufficiency. The targets of these best practices are federally-funded HCHPs. Conclusion: By introducing the importance of patient self-sufficiency and its relation to social determinants of health within the HCHP sector, we can begin to conceptualize the integration of self-sufficiency initiatives within federally-funded HCHP