Understanding Lived Experiences of Food Insecurity through a Paraliminality Lens

This article examines lived experiences of food insecurity in the United Kingdom as a liminal phenomenon. Our research is set within the context of austerity measures, welfare reform and the precarity experienced by increasing numbers of individuals. Drawing on original qualitative data, we highlight diverse food insecurity experiences as transitional, oscillating between phases of everyday food access to requiring supplementary food, which are both empowering and reinforcing of food insecurity. We make three original contributions to existing research on food insecurity. First, we expand the scope of empirical research by conceptualising food insecurity as liminal. Second, we illuminate shared social processes and practices that intersect individual agency and structure, co-constructing people’s experiences of food insecurity. Third, we extend liminality theory by conceptualising paraliminality, a hybrid of liminal and liminoid phenomena that co-generates a persistent liminal state. Finally, we highlight policy implications that go beyond short-term emergency food access measures.

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Exploring Household Food Security and Malnutrition Risk with Psychosocial Indicators of Healthy Ageing in Place: The Food Train - Eat Well Age Well Partnership Project

10.31235/osf.io/6fwm8 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Kate Reid ◽

catherine lido ◽

Hannah Ross ◽

Michelle Carruthers ◽

Laura Cairns ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Food Insecurity ◽

Food Access ◽

Third Sector ◽

Psychosocial Health ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Healthy Ageing ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Risk Indicators ◽

Household Food Security

In Scotland, and United Kingdom, there are stark inequalities in the experience of older age, particularly for those with limited social contact, poorer health, located in deprived neighbourhoods (Centre for Ageing Better 2015). This mixed-methodology research, reports survey findings with n=169 community dwelling older adults in Scotland (average age 79.5), supported with qualitative interviews to evidence the underexplored connection between food insecurity and physiological risk indicators of undernutrition (malnutrition), with psychosocial indicators of healthy ageing. Findings are grounded in collaboration with a third sector social enterprise – Food Train, who provide food shopping and volunteer meal making for those aged 65+. Findings revealed correlations between food insecurity and early indicators of malnutrition risk with poorer wellbeing, and social connectedness. Supported food access mitigates the negative cycle of food insecurity on mental health, via empowerment (locus of control) over one’s life. Qualitative findings suggest that risks of food insecurity may not be financial (food poverty), or attributable to health realities associated with ageing. Rather, psychosocial health and wellbeing diverge as older adults attempt to draw upon available resources, reflective of their own social capital. Mitigators of malnutrition risk includes empowerment through social care located in the third sector, as well as social aspects of food access e.g. social eating, warranting future investigation. These findings are considered post Covid-19, with key policy implications.

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Policy Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Insecurity in Rural America: Evidence from Appalachia

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph182312792 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (23) ◽

pp. 12792

Author(s):

Kathryn M. Cardarelli ◽

Emily DeWitt ◽

Rachel Gillespie ◽

Rachel H. Graham ◽

Heather Norman-Burgdolf ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Food Insecurity ◽

Food Access ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Grocery Stores ◽

Theory Approach ◽

Assistance Program ◽

Assistance Programs ◽

Supply Disruptions ◽

Emergency Assistance ◽

The Impact

Rural communities are disproportionally affected by food insecurity, making them vulnerable to the consequences of supply disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. While access to food was initially diminished due to food supply disruptions, little is known about the mechanisms through which federal emergency assistance programs impacted food access in rural populations. Through a series of five focus groups in spring 2021, we examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food access in a rural Appalachian community in Kentucky. Data were analyzed using a Grounded Theory Approach. Findings revealed the following four primary themes: food scarcity in grocery stores; expanded federal food assistance; expanded community food resources; and expanded home gardening. Participants provided details regarding the way increased federal assistance, especially expanded benefits within the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, allowed them to purchase greater quantities of nutritious food. This study unveils the specific impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on one rural population, including the influence of some social determinants of health on food insecurity. Policymakers and stakeholders should recognize the layered protection of multiple federal emergency assistance programs against food insecurity and the potential for long-term population health promotion in rural areas.

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Cultural Awareness of Students in Communication Sciences and Disorders: A Mixed-Methods Study

Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups ◽

10.1044/2020_persp-19-00167 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (5) ◽

pp. 1231-1242

Author(s):

Celeste Domsch ◽

Lori Stiritz ◽

Jay Huff

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Study Abroad ◽

Cultural Awareness ◽

Qualitative Data ◽

The United States ◽

Self Report ◽

Global Awareness ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Study ◽

Short Term Study

Purpose This study used a mixed-methods design to assess changes in students' cultural awareness during and following a short-term study abroad. Method Thirty-six undergraduate and graduate students participated in a 2-week study abroad to England during the summers of 2016 and 2017. Quantitative data were collected using standardized self-report measures administered prior to departure and after returning to the United States and were analyzed using paired-samples t tests. Qualitative data were collected in the form of daily journal reflections during the trip and interviews after returning to the United States and analyzed using phenomenological methods. Results No statistically significant changes were evident on any standardized self-report measures once corrections for multiple t tests were applied. In addition, a ceiling effect was found on one measure. On the qualitative measures, themes from student transcripts included increased global awareness and a sense of personal growth. Conclusions Measuring cultural awareness poses many challenges. One is that social desirability bias may influence responses. A second is that current measures of cultural competence may exhibit ceiling or floor effects. Analysis of qualitative data may be more useful in examining effects of participation in a short-term study abroad, which appears to result in decreased ethnocentrism and increased global awareness in communication sciences and disorders students. Future work may wish to consider the long-term effects of participation in a study abroad for emerging professionals in the field.

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More about Diamonds

10.31132/2412-5717-2019-46-1-115-119 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 115-119

Author(s):

Vladimir Shubin

Keyword(s):

United Kingdom ◽

South African ◽

Personal Experience ◽

African Studies ◽

Short Term ◽

Soviet State ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

De Beers

The article is a rejoinder to the work of Yury S. Skubko, previously published in the Journal of the Institute for African Studies, on Moscow’s relations with De Beers. It is based not only on the available literature but also on the author’s personal experience. The author shows that under the monopoly of this South African company in the field of diamond sales, Soviet organizations, even in the conditions of a South African boycott, were forced to deal with its subordinate structures and the attempts to sideline them were in vain. In particular the article analyses the attitude to a controversial agreement signed by the Soviet state-owned “Glavalmalmazzoloto” and De Beers Centenary in 1990, when, like in many other cases in the “Gorbachev’s era” Moscow’s principle stand was eroded for short-term results even personal gains. The author comes to the conclusion that the responsibility for Moscow’s dealings with De Beers must be borne not by our country, but above all by the United Kingdom, which allowed De Beers have the headquarters of its Central Selling Organisation (CСO) in London.

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Conclusion

10.1093/oso/9780198807872.003.0010 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Paul D. Kenny

Keyword(s):

Comparative Research ◽

Party System ◽

Institutional Reform ◽

System Change ◽

Party Systems ◽

Political Authority ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Short Term ◽

Institutional Reforms

This final chapter draws out the two main conclusions from the book. First, it discusses the policy implications of its findings. It suggests caution in the decentralization of political authority as a remedy for democratic underperformance in patronage-based democracies. Rather than making government more accountable, it may instead exacerbate principal–agent conflicts between center and periphery. More important than decentralization in the short term may be institutional reforms at the center that make parties more programmatic and responsive to citizens. Second, it sets out some of the implications of the book’s findings for the study of populism and party-system change more generally. It shows that the varied ways in which voters and parties are linked creates different pathways to the decline of establishment parties and the success of populist alternatives. Further comparative research across party systems might contribute positively to institutional reform and political change.

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Renewable Energy Deployment and COVID-19 Measures for Sustainable Development

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13084418 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 4418

Author(s):

Miraj Ahmed Bhuiyan ◽

Jaehyung An ◽

Alexey Mikhaylov ◽

Nikita Moiseev ◽

Mir Sayed Shah Danish

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

External Environment ◽

Energy Markets ◽

Energy Market ◽

Short Term ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Long Short Term Memory ◽

Restrictive Measures ◽

The Impact

The main goal of this study is to evaluate the impact of restrictive measures introduced in connection with COVID-19 on consumption in renewable energy markets. The study will be based on the hypothesis that similar changes in human behavior can be expected in the future with the further spread of COVID-19 and/or the introduction of additional quarantine measures around the world. The analysis also yielded additional results. The strongest reductions in energy generation occurred in countries with a high percentage (more than 80%) of urban population (Brazil, USA, the United Kingdom and Germany). This study uses two models created with the Keras Long Short-Term Memory (Keras LSTM) Model, and 76 and 10 parameters are involved. This article suggests that various restrictive strategies reduced the sustainable demand for renewable energy and led to a drop in economic growth, slowing the growth of COVID-19 infections in 2020. It is unknown to what extent the observed slowdown in the spread from March 2020 to September 2020 due to the policy’s impact and not the interaction between the virus and the external environment. All renewable energy producers decreased the volume of renewable energy market supply in 2020 (except China).

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The temporal fragility of infrastructure: Theorizing decay, maintenance, and repair

Environment and Planning E Nature and Space ◽

10.1177/2514848620979712 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 251484862097971

Author(s):

Kavita Ramakrishnan ◽

Kathleen O’Reilly ◽

Jessica Budds

Keyword(s):

Lived Experiences ◽

Social Processes ◽

Uneven Distribution ◽

Maintenance And Repair ◽

The Creation ◽

Ecological Relations

Recent studies have reconceptualized infrastructure as comprising both material and social processes, thus offering insights into lived experiences, governance, and socio-spatial reordering. More specific attention to infrastructure’s temporality has challenged its supposed inertia and inevitable completeness, leading to an engagement with questions of the dynamics of infrastructure over different phases of its lifespan, and their generative effects. In this paper, we advance these debates through a focus on the processes of decay, maintenance, and repair that characterize such phases of infrastructural life, by exploring how specific infrastructures are materially shaped by, and shape, social, political, and socio-ecological arrangements. Our intervention has two related aims: first, to conceptualize decay, maintenance, and repair as both temporal phases of infrastructure’s dynamic materiality and its specific affective conditions; second, to trace how these phases of infrastructural life rework embodied labor, differentiated citizenship, and socio-ecological relations. We argue that attention to infrastructure’s “temporal fragility” elucidates the articulation between everyday capacities and desires to labor, the creation of and demands made by political constituents, and the uneven distribution of opportunities and resources.

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Correlates of Transitions in Food Insecurity Status during the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic among Ethnically Diverse Households in Central Texas

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu13082597 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 2597

Author(s):

Kathryn M. Janda ◽

Nalini Ranjit ◽

Deborah Salvo ◽

Aida Nielsen ◽

Pablo Lemoine ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Food Insecurity ◽

Food Availability ◽

Low Income ◽

Food Access ◽

Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽

Related Factors ◽

Logistic Regression Models ◽

Early Stages ◽

Central Texas ◽

June July

Food insecurity increased substantially in the USA during the early stages of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to identify potential sociodemographic and food access-related factors that were associated with continuing or transitioning into food insecurity in a diverse population. An electronic survey was completed by 367 households living in low-income communities in Central Texas during June–July 2020. Multinomial logistic regression models were developed to examine the associations among food insecurity transitions during COVID-19 and various sociodemographic and food access-related factors, including race/ethnicity, children in the household, loss of employment/wages, language, and issues with food availability, accessibility, affordability, and stability during the pandemic. Sociodemographic and food access-related factors associated with staying or becoming newly food insecure were similar but not identical. Having children in the household, changes in employment/wages, changing shopping location due to food availability, accessibility and/or affordability issues, issues with food availability, and stability of food supply were associated with becoming newly food insecure and staying food insecure during the pandemic. Identifying as Latino and/or Black was associated with staying food insecure during COVID-19. These findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic did not create new food insecurity disparities. Rather, the pandemic exacerbated pre-existing disparities.

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Monetary policy implications of short-term capital flows in Turkey

Empirica ◽

10.1007/s10663-017-9388-0 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 45 (4) ◽

pp. 747-763 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Tolga Dağlaroğlu ◽

Baki Demirel ◽

Syed F. Mahmud

Keyword(s):

Monetary Policy ◽

Capital Flows ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Short Term

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Expectant Management of Miscarriage in View of NICE Guideline 154

Journal of Pregnancy ◽

10.1155/2014/824527 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2014 ◽

pp. 1-4

Author(s):

Junaid Rafi ◽

Haroona Khalil

Keyword(s):

Blood Transfusion ◽

Success Rate ◽

Prospective Observational Study ◽

Expectant Management ◽

District General Hospital ◽

Short Term ◽

Nice Guideline ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Products Of Conception ◽

Incomplete Miscarriage

Objective. To find out the success rate of conservative management of complete two weeks for miscarriage in view of NICE Guideline 154.Design. Prospective observational study.Setting. Early pregnancy assessment units of District General Hospital in the United Kingdom.Participants. Women of less than 14 weeks’ gestation, with a diagnosis of miscarriage (missed miscarriage/anembryonic or incomplete miscarriage).Interventions.Expectant management for two weeks.Main Outcome Measure.(1) Efficacy of 2-week expectant management, that is, complete resolution of miscarriage based either on self-reporting of patient after passing products of conception at home between D0 and D14 of expectant management or confirmation on scan at D14, and (2) short-term complications needing strong analgesia, blood transfusion, and antibiotics.Results. Expectant management of miscarriage for 2 weeks from the day of diagnosis was successful in 58% (64 /111) and failed in 42% (47/111).Conclusions. Expectant management success rate is consistent with the results from the longitudinal studies and RCTs published in the past. It is a safe option as none of the patients on expectant/medical management needed strong analgesia/antibiotics or blood transfusion.

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