scholarly journals A qualitative inquiry of food insecurity in Belize

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Laurel Dolin Stevenson ◽  
Melissa M. Reznar ◽  
Elizabeth Onye ◽  
Lynna Bendali Amor ◽  
Andre Joel Lopez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Food Access ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Family Composition ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Education And Employment ◽  
Cayo District

Abstract Objective: To explore and provide contextual meaning around issues surrounding food insecurity, namely, factors influencing food access, as one domain of food security. Design: A community-based, qualitative inquiry using semi-structured face-to-face interviews was conducted as part of a larger sequential mixed-methods study. Setting: Cayo District, Belize, May 2019-August 2019. Participants: Thirty English-speaking individuals (8 males, 22 females) between the ages of 18-70, with varying family composition residing within the Cayo District. Results: Participants describe a complex interconnectedness between family- and individual-level barriers to food access. Specifically, family composition, income, education, and employment influence individuals’ ability to afford and access food for themselves or their families. Participants also cite challenges with transportation and distance to food sources and educational opportunities as barriers to accessing food. Conclusion: These findings provide insight around food security and food access barriers in a middle-income country and provide avenues for further study and potential interventions. Increased and sustained investment in primary and secondary education, including programs to support enrollment, should be a priority to decreasing food insecurity. Attention to building public infrastructure may also ease burdens around accessing foods.

scholarly journals Eating rough: food sources and acquisition practices of homeless young people in Adelaide, South Australia

2006 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Booth
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Homeless Youth ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Food Acquisition ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Related Services ◽  
City Agencies

AbstractObjectiveThe aim of this study was to determine the food sources and acquisition practices used by homeless youth in Adelaide. This work is part of a larger study that aimed to examine the extent and nature of food insecurity among homeless youth.DesignCross-sectional design involving quantitative and qualitative methods.SettingFour health and welfare inner-city agencies serving homeless youth in Adelaide, South Australia.SubjectsA sample of 150 homeless youth aged between 15 and 24 years recruited from these agencies. Fifteen were selected via snowball sampling for interview.ResultsUse of welfare food sources was high (63%). Food from welfare agencies was supplemented by unorthodox food acquisition methods such as theft (65%), begging for money for food (61%), begging for food items (44%) and asking for help from friends and relatives (34%). Reasons given for non-usage of welfare food services included affordability, access, being too busy, shame or embarrassment.ConclusionsFood insecurity is a salient issue for some homeless youth in Adelaide. Clarifying food acquisition practices of food-insecure homeless youth is essential for rational planning and improvement of food-related services to meet their needs. Such an understanding also underpins the development of broader public policy responses that improve individual and household skills and resources to acquire food and ensure food security. Nutrition professionals, welfare professionals and policy-makers need to work sensitively with welfare food agencies and others to improve food access and food security for homeless youth.

Abstract P317: An Activity Space Approach to Assessing the Food Environments of Food Secure and Insecure Women

Circulation ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 137 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilana G Raskind ◽  
Michelle C Kegler ◽  
Michael R Kramer
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Spatial Behavior ◽  
Activity Space ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Food Environments ◽  
Spatial Mobility ◽  
Activity Spaces ◽  
Food Security Status ◽  
Space Approach

Introduction: Community food environments (FE) are an important correlate of diet- and weight-related CV health. Conventional approaches to measuring the FE focus on residential neighborhoods, and do not assess the full extent of food sources regularly encountered and used. Further, little attention has been given to how individual diet-related experiences, like food insecurity, may interact with features of the FE to affect health. To address these limitations, we use an activity space approach, defined by the locations women routinely visit, to measure FE exposure and use, and assess differences by food security status. Hypothesis: Food-related spatial behavior and features of the FE differ between a) conventional and activity space definitions, and b) food secure and insecure women. Methods: We present initial results (n=51) from an ongoing clinic-based study of low-income African American women in Atlanta, GA. Data are collected in-person using a Google Map-powered activity space questionnaire. USDA’s 10-item adult scale is used to measure food insecurity. Retail FE data are from Dun & Bradstreet. ArcGIS 10.5 was used to define three environments: residential census tract (CT), and convex hull polygons of overall and food-specific activity spaces. We tested differences, by food security status, in mean behaviors and FE features with one-way ANOVAs. Results: Eighty-eight percent of women were food insecure. Food insecure women were lower income, less often employed, and less often had access to a car. CTs contained fewer supermarkets (μ=1.2 SD =1.4) and fast food restaurants (μ=3.9 SD =3.2) than activity spaces (μ=7.9 SD =7.0; μ=55.5 SD =44.1, respectively). On average, 6.7% ( SD =13.5) of utilized food sources fell within CT bounds, while 53.4% ( SD =35.5) fell within activity spaces. Compared to food secure women, food insecure women had smaller overall (μ=329.8km 2 SD =340.4 vs. μ=548.3km 2 SD =422.4; p =0.16) and food-specific (μ=48.1km 2 SD =74.3 vs. μ=85.6km 2 SD =106.4; p =0.28) activity spaces, and a smaller proportion of their utilized supermarkets fell within their activity spaces (μ=60.9% SD =42.4 vs. μ=81.9% SD =21.4; p =0.24). FE features did not differ by food security status. Conclusions: Conventional FE definitions likely underestimate the number of food sources women encounter, and do not capture the majority of sources used. Smaller activity spaces among food insecure women suggest that routine spatial mobility may be constrained by factors like transportation access. Still, food insecure women more often traveled outside of their activity spaces to utilize supermarkets, suggesting a dual burden of constrained spatial mobility and access. Interestingly, FE features did not differ by food security status. In planned future analyses, any observed differences in diet and weight may indicate variation in how women interact with the FE, rather than differences in exposure.

Agricultural diversification and food security in low- and middle-income countries: Where is the evidence?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Waha ◽  
Francesco Accatino ◽  
Cecile Godde ◽  
Cyrille Rigolot ◽  
Jessica Bogard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Access ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Nutrition Security ◽  
Agricultural Diversification ◽  
Food And Nutrition ◽  
Food Utilisation ◽  
Farm Scale

<p>Diversity and diversification in agricultural systems are often presented in the literature as having multiple benefits such as enhancing resilience, increasing food production and decreasing risks in production systems and is often postulated to benefit food and nutrition security in low- and middle-income countries. Our study aims to provide an overview of the potential for agricultural diversification to improve food security status as reported in recently published research articles analysing the diversity-food security relationship. We consider results for different scales, from individual to global and for different food security dimensions: availability, access, stability and utilisation.</p><p>We carried out a literature review that includes exhaustive, comprehensive searching. We search for peer-reviewed publications in the Web of Science core collection (v.5.32) written in English, between 2010 and February 2020 on the association between diversity in agricultural systems and at least one dimension or measure of food security. From the original list of articles we exclude all publications that (1) focus on a study area outside a low- to middle income country; (2) do not include at least one metric of farm-, regional-, or global-level diversity as specified with the search terms; (3) do not explicitly measure at least one food security dimension, or (4) were exclusively focussed on describing drivers and trends in diversity or food security.</p><p>We find that a total number of 87 research articles assessed a total of 328 diversity-food security relationships using one or more statistical modelling approach. About half of them are positive (54%) and mostly refer to the diversity-food access relationship on the individual, household and farm scale as this was the food security dimension and spatial scale most analysed. Of all results for food access 60% were positive relationships and only 4% were negative relationships with the remainder having no or ambiguous relationships. Twenty-nine studies used household dietary diversity as a measure of food access and 10 studies used at least one food access indicator that is a validated proxy for nutrient adequacy. Positive relationships were more often reported for food availability (65%) than for food utilisation (33%) also because for food utilisation there are a lot of mixed findings for different measures of anthropometric and nutritional status. The most common spatial scale assessed was the household and farm scale (58%).</p><p>There is no food security dimension that primarily has a negative relationship with agricultural diversity but there is a considerable number of relationships that are found to be neutral or ambiguous. Diversity can be an important driver of food security, but the magnitude of the contribution depends on the  socio-economic and biophysical characteristics of the local farming system. We conclude that farmers mostly see diversification as a potential strategy to improve livelihoods, agricultural production and/or food and nutrition security where other strategies are more expensive but not as a desirable characteristic of the agricultural systems at all costs especially in the presence of other strategies that can achieve the same outcome.</p>

Using participatory and mixed-methods approaches in GIS to develop a Place-Based Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Index

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 1181-1205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahbubur R Meenar
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Food Environment ◽  
Food Access ◽  
Vulnerability Index ◽  
Community Food Security ◽  
Participatory Gis ◽  
Analytical Process

This paper discusses the development of a Place-Based Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Index (PFIVI), which incorporates six indicators and 30 variables. It also presents an application of this Index within the context of Philadelphia, a postindustrial U.S. city. The paper argues that in order to thoroughly measure a multidimensional socioeconomic problem that is tied to the built environment (e.g., food insecurity and vulnerability), the use of participatory and mixed-methods approaches in GIS (e.g., participatory GIS or PGIS) may produce more comprehensive results compared to other commonly used methods. This paper makes an intervention in the food environment literature, which tends to analyze food access in a narrow way, by applying a methodology conceptually grounded in community food security and operationalized through a PGIS project. It also contributes to still-evolving PGIS methodologies by directly engaging stakeholders in a complicated GIS-based analytical process.

scholarly journals Perceptions of the Food Environment and Access among Predominantly Black Low-Income Residents of Rural Louisiana Communities

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (15) ◽  
pp. 5340
Author(s):  
Denise Holston ◽  
Jessica Stroope ◽  
Matthew Greene ◽  
Bailey Houghtaling
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Food Environment ◽  
Food Access ◽  
The United States ◽  
Grocery Store ◽  
Assistance Program ◽  
Nutrition Assistance

Food insecurity in rural settings is complex and not fully understood, especially from the perspective of low-income and Black residents. The goal of this study was to use qualitative methods to better understand experiences with food access and perceptions of the food environment among low-income, predominately Black rural Louisiana residents in the United States. Data were collected from focus group discussions (FGD) and focus group intake forms. Study participants were all rural residents eligible to receive at least one nutrition assistance program. FGD questions focused on perceptions of the food environment, with an emphasis on food access. Participants (n = 44) were predominately Black and female. Over half (n = 25) reported running out of food before the end of the month. Major themes included: store choice, outshopping, methods of acquiring foods other than the grocery store, and food insecurity. Concerns around price, quality, and transportation emerged as factors negatively impacting food security. Understanding residents’ perceptions and experiences is necessary to inform contextually appropriate and feasible policy and practice interventions that address the physical environment and social conditions that shape the broader physical food environment in order to achieve equitable food access and food security.

scholarly journals Assessing the relevance of neighbourhood characteristics to the household food security of low-income Toronto families

2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1139-1148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon I Kirkpatrick ◽  
Valerie Tarasuk
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Food Access ◽  
Household Food Security ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Household Food ◽  
Neighbourhood Social Capital ◽  
Neighbourhood Characteristics

AbstractObjectiveAlthough the sociodemographic characteristics of food-insecure households have been well documented, there has been little examination of neighbourhood characteristics in relation to this problem. In the present study we examined the association between household food security and neighbourhood features including geographic food access and perceived neighbourhood social capital.DesignCross-sectional survey and mapping of discount supermarkets and community food programmes.SettingTwelve high-poverty neighbourhoods in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.SubjectsRespondents from 484 low-income families who had children and who lived in rental accommodations.ResultsFood insecurity was pervasive, affecting two-thirds of families with about a quarter categorized as severely food insecure, indicative of food deprivation. Food insecurity was associated with household factors including income and income source. However, food security did not appear to be mitigated by proximity to food retail or community food programmes, and high rates of food insecurity were observed in neighbourhoods with good geographic food access. While low perceived neighbourhood social capital was associated with higher odds of food insecurity, this effect did not persist once we accounted for household sociodemographic factors.ConclusionsOur findings raise questions about the extent to which neighbourhood-level interventions to improve factors such as food access or social cohesion can mitigate problems of food insecurity that are rooted in resource constraints. In contrast, the results reinforce the importance of household-level characteristics and highlight the need for interventions to address the financial constraints that underlie problems of food insecurity.

Teen Food Insecurity: Finding Solutions through the Voices of Teens

2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-23
Author(s):  
Mecca Burris ◽  
Sarah Bradley ◽  
Kayla Rykiel ◽  
David Himmelgreen
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Food Access ◽  
School Administration ◽  
Social Experiences ◽  
Portion Sizes ◽  
Nutritional Needs ◽  
Negative Perceptions ◽  
Limited Food ◽  
Illegal Activities

Teens are vulnerable to food insecurity for both biological and social reasons. This study aimed to better understand the factors that underpin teen food insecurity and the coping strategies teens employ when faced with limited food access and hunger. A sociodemographic survey including the USDA's Self-Administered Food Security Survey Module for Children Ages 12 Years and Older, focus groups, and photovoice were used to collect data on the demographics, food insecurity prevalence, and experiences of food insecurity among thirty-eight teens from five different communities in Tampa Bay, Florida. Results showed that approximately 44 percent of teens were food insecure. Factors that associated with food insecurity included: (1) negative perceptions of food quality, food options, school administration, food waste, and food assistance utilization; (2) school and programming issues including the timing of meals, portion sizes, and regulations associated with food and access; (3) stigma and bullying; and (4) socioeconomics. Teens relied on their communities (e.g., friends, churches), illegal activities (e.g., stealing), cheap and unhealthy foods, jobs, or their teachers to cope with food insecurity. The findings highlight significant opportunities for food security interventions that target the unique nutritional needs and social experiences of adolescents. The study was funded by the county Juvenile Welfare Board.

scholarly journals Determinants of household food access among small farmers in the Andes: examining the path

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Leah ◽  
Willy Pradel ◽  
Donald C Cole ◽  
Gordon Prain ◽  
Hilary Creed-Kanashiro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Food Access ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Household Food Security ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Livelihood Assets ◽  
Household Food ◽  
Agricultural Households

AbstractObjectiveHousehold food access remains a concern among primarily agricultural households in lower- and middle-income countries. We examined the associations among domains representing livelihood assets (human capital, social capital, natural capital, physical capital and financial capital) and household food access.DesignCross-sectional survey (two questionnaires) on livelihood assets.SettingMetropolitan Pillaro, Ecuador; Cochabamba, Bolivia; and Huancayo, Peru.SubjectsHouseholds (n570) involved in small-scale agricultural production in 2008.ResultsFood access, defined as the number of months of adequate food provisioning in the previous year, was relatively good; 41 % of the respondents indicated to have had no difficulty in obtaining food for their household in the past year. Using bivariate analysis, key livelihood assets indicators associated with better household food access were identified as: age of household survey respondent (P= 0·05), participation in agricultural associations (P= 0·09), church membership (P= 0·08), area of irrigated land (P= 0·08), housing material (P= 0·06), space within the household residence (P= 0·02) and satisfaction with health status (P= 0·02). In path models both direct and indirect effects were observed, underscoring the complexity of the relationships between livelihood assets and household food access. Paths significantly associated with better household food access included: better housing conditions (P= 0·01), more space within the household residence (P= 0·001) and greater satisfaction with health status (P= 0·001).ConclusionsMultiple factors were associated with household food access in these peri-urban agricultural households. Food security intervention programmes focusing on food access need to deal with both agricultural factors and determinants of health to bolster household food security in challenging lower- and middle-income country contexts.

scholarly journals Enabling trade across borders and food security in Africa

Food Security ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1121-1140
Author(s):  
Isaac Bonuedi ◽  
Kofi Kamasa ◽  
Eric Evans Osei Opoku
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Instrumental Variable ◽  
Energy Supply ◽  
Food Access ◽  
Dietary Energy ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Trade Facilitation ◽  
Food Deficit ◽  
Daunting Challenge

Abstract Widespread food insecurity remains a daunting challenge in Africa, despite significant gains in global efforts to eliminate hunger over the last three decades. This paper examines the effects of easing trade across borders – through reductions in documents, time, and costs to export and import – on food security outcomes in Africa. To control for endogeneity, this paper employs the first-difference instrumental variable estimator based on panel data covering 45 African countries over the period 2006–2015. The results reveal that poor trade facilitation constitutes a significant driver of food insecurity in Africa. In particular, ineffective trade facilitation is associated with significant increments in the prevalence of undernourishment and depth of food deficit, as well as reductions in dietary energy supply adequacy and access to sanitation facilities. The results show that food availability and food access are significantly hampered by higher documentation requirements and lengthier export and import times. The results suggest that reductions in delays from documentary and border compliance promise to be the most effective trade facilitation reforms to enhance food security in Africa.

scholarly journals Measurement of the dimensions of food insecurity in developed countries: a systematic literature review

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (16) ◽  
pp. 2887-2896 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Ashby ◽  
Suzanne Kleve ◽  
Rebecca McKechnie ◽  
Claire Palermo
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Food Access ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Food Utilization ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Over Time

AbstractObjectiveFood insecurity is a salient health issue comprised of four dimensions – food access, availability, utilization and stability over time. The aim of the present study was to conduct a systematic literature review to identify all multi-item tools that measure food insecurity and explore which of the dimensions they assess.DesignFive databases were searched (CENTRAL, CINAHL plus, EMBASE, MEDLINE, TRIP) for studies published in English since 1999. Inclusion criteria included human studies using multi-item tools to measure food security and studies conducted in developed countries. Manuscripts describing the US Department of Agriculture Food Security Survey Module, that measures ‘food access’, were excluded due to wide acceptance of the validity and reliability of this instrument. Two authors extracted data and assessed the quality of the included studies. Data were summarized against the dimensions of food insecurity.SettingA systematic review of the literature.SubjectsThe majority of tools were developed in the USA and had been used in different age groups and cultures.ResultsEight multi-item tools were identified. All of the tools assessed the ‘food access’ dimension and two partially assessed the dimensions ‘food utilization’ and ‘stability over time’, respectively. ‘Food availability’ was not assessed by existing tools.ConclusionsCurrent tools available for measuring food insecurity are subjective, limited in scope, with a majority assessing only one dimension of food insecurity (access). To more accurately assess the true burden of food insecurity, tools should be adapted or developed to assess all four dimensions of food insecurity.

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