Clinical trial NCT04485377: Safety Net Support Use in California
Official title: Assessing Californians Communities' Experiences With Safety Net Supports Survey
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Households
Keywords: poverty
child health
safety net programs
Lead sponsor: University of California, Berkeley
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: University of California, San Francisco
First posted: 2020-07-24
Enrollment: 501
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Families living with low-income, in three selected counties in California

Brief summary: The investigator's goal is to promote equity by understanding the drivers of disparities in access to income support, particularly among urban and rural Latinx, African American, and white populations in California (CA). This study aims to capture levels of awareness, barriers to uptake, and the benefits of participation in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a tax credit for low- to moderate-income working individuals and families, among households with children ages 0-5 years old. To achieve this goal, the investigators will conduct a mixed-methods, cross-sectional, descriptive study in three diverse counties in California: Los Angeles (urban, nearly half Latinx), Alameda (urban, ethnically diverse), and Merced (rural, predominantly Latinx and white).

Detailed description: Using both focus groups and survey interviews, the investigators will recruit parents of young children (ages 0-5) eligible for the EITC (confirmed with screening questions regarding age, family size, marital status, and income) who either: 1) have utilized the program, or 2) have not utilized the program (do not file taxes or filed taxes but have not filed for EITC benefits). For the first group, the investigators will probe the value of the EITC benefits for their families, what experiences they had filing their taxes and receiving the benefit, how they spent the EITC benefits, and their thoughts about alternative approaches for benefit delivery that would better support their families. For the second group, the investigators aim to understand what they have heard of the program, why they may not have taken advantage of the benefits, and their recommendations for making the program more accessible. The investigators will also explore how EITC take-up varies by demographic variables, such as county of residence, income, and race/ethnicity, as well as children's and parents' characteristics, and enrollment in other programs designed to support low-income families with young children. The investigators will also ask questions about families' experiences with COVID-19 and related mitigation strategies (e.g. school closures, etc). As described in greater detail below, all data collection activities will be conducted in partnership with agencies such as WIC and Head Start, and through partnerships with the University of California Cooperative Extension program and other similar agencies.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Parents of children 0-6
* Lives in Alameda, Merced of Los Angeles counties
* Income below certain cut-offs

Exclusion Criteria:

* None

Primary outcomes:
measure: Poverty: survey
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Employment: survey
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Safety net participation and perceptions of participation: survey
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Mental health: survey
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Physical Health: survey
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Health care utilization: survey
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: COVID-19-related questions
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Tax Credit Question
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: 2018 and 2019 Tax Return Data: survey
timeFrame: Baseline
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Racial discrimination: survey
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Housing: survey
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Attitudinal variables: survey
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Food insecurity: survey
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Housing-related changes from Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19): survey
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Demographic information: survey
timeFrame: Baseline
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Berkeley
country: United States
facility: UC Berkeley School of Public Health
state: California
Study officials:
References: