“It's a lot of things”: Household material hardship among Black and Hispanic parents of children with cancer

Abstract

AbstractHousehold material hardship (HMH)—housing, food, transportation, or utility insecurity—is an adverse social determinant of health that is modifiable in the clinical setting. This mixed‐methods, single‐center study explored the experiences of HMH among Black and Hispanic pediatric oncology parents utilizing a single timepoint survey (N = 60) and semi‐structured interviews (N = 20 purposively sampled subcohort). Forty‐four (73%) parents reported HMH. Qualitatively, participants expressed stress, anxiety, and embarrassment due to unmet basic resource needs, and childcare emerged as an additional important domain of HMH. Participants recommend a standardized approach to HMH screening and resource allocation, offering insight into targets for future intervention.