Family and Neighborhood Resilience Are Associated with Children's Healthcare Utilization.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the association of external factors of resilience, neighborhood, and family resilience with healthcare use.

STUDY

DESIGN

A cross-sectional, observational study was conducted using data from the 2016-2017 National Survey of Children's Health. Children aged 4-17 years were included. Multiple logistic regression was used to determine aOR and 95% CIs for association between levels of family resilience, neighborhood resilience and outcome measures: presence of medical home, and ≥2 emergency department (ED) visits per year while adjusting for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), chronic conditions, and sociodemographic factors.

RESULTS

We included 58 336 children aged 4-17 years, representing a population of 57 688 434. Overall, 8.0%, 13.1%, and 78.9% lived in families with low, moderate, and high resilience, respectively; 56.1% identified their neighborhood as resilient. Of these children, 47.5% had a medical home and 4.2% reported ≥2 ED visits in the past year. A child with high family resilience had 60% increased odds of having a medical home (OR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.37-1.87), and a child with moderate family resilience or resilient neighborhood had a 30% increase (OR, 1.32 [95% CI, 1.10-1.59] and OR, 1.31 [95% CI, 1.20-1.43], respectively). There was no association between resilience factors and ED use, although children with increased ACEs had increased ED use.

CONCLUSIONS

Children from resilient families and neighborhoods have an increased odds of receiving care in a medical home after adjusting for the effects of ACEs, chronic conditions, and sociodemographic factors, but no association was seen with ED use.