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Food Insecurity and Social Capital of Impoverished Women from Rural Appalachian Ohio: A Pilot Study
Author(s) -
Stiefel Alyson M.,
Holben David H.,
Holcomb John P.,
Hazen Crystal,
Struble Celia J.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.1_supplement.680.9
Subject(s) - food insecurity , food security , demography , test (biology) , medicine , environmental health , socioeconomics , psychology , geography , economics , sociology , biology , agriculture , paleontology , archaeology
Food security (FS) and social capital (SC) were studied in Food Stamp‐eligible women at least 18 years with at least 1 child<18 years living in rural Appalachian Ohio and were randomly assigned to produce (home delivery, $60 fresh produce for 4 weeks) [n=30, 90.9% retention rate (RR)] and control ($60 food/fuel gift cards) (n=31, 93.9% RR) groups. Participants (35+/−9 years; 4+/−2 household members; monthly income, $913+/−728) completed pre‐ and post‐interviews. After 4‐weeks, SC did not change (t‐test, p=0.742); however, both household FS (t‐test, p=0.028) and adult FS (t‐test, p=0.020) decreased among the produce group. Child FS did not change (t‐test, p=0.095). For all participants (n=61), SC was not associated with household FS (p=0.138), adult FS (p=0.118), or child FS (p=0.128). The negative impact of produce delivery on FS may be due to lack of nutrition education and/or being unfamiliar with the produce, prohibiting household use. The short duration and small sample size of the study may have contributed to both FS and SC trends observed. Future studies should examine these constructs over the entire growing season to better understand the impact of home‐delivered produce on SC and FS.