Vanessa Brcic|Caroline Eberdt|Janusz Kaczorowski
Development of a Tool to Identify Poverty in a Family Practice Setting: A Pilot Study
University of British Columbia|University of British Columbia|University of British Columbia
objective goal pilot study develop fieldtest questions use poverty casefinding tool assist primary care providers identifying poverty clinical practice methods 156 questionnaires completed convenience sample urban rural primary care patients presenting four family practices british columbia canada univariate multivariate logistic regression analyses compared questionnaire responses lowincome cutoff lico levels calculated respondent results 35 respondents poverty line lico question ever difficulty making ends meet end month identified good predictor poverty sensitivity 98 specificity 60 323 95 ci 541915 multivariate analysis identified 3item casefinding tool including 2 additional questions food housing security sensitivity 643 specificity 944 302 95 ci 103881 85 belowlico respondents felt poverty screening important 67 felt comfortable speaking family physician poverty conclusions asking patients directly poverty may help identify patients increased needs primary care