Premium
Validity of the Latin American and Caribbean Household Food Security Scale (ELCSA) in South Haiti
Author(s) -
PerezEscamilla Rafael,
Dessalines Michael,
Finnigan Mousson,
HromiFiedler Amber,
Pachón Helena
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.871.3
Subject(s) - cronbach's alpha , food security , latin americans , geography , socioeconomics , scale (ratio) , environmental health , demography , medicine , psychology , economics , economic growth , political science , health care , sociology , agriculture , cartography , archaeology , law
We tested the validity of ELCSA in a convenience sample of 153 women with children under five in South Haiti. ELCSA was applied to the women in Creole, contained 16 items and used a reference period of 3 months. Cronbach's alpha was 0.92. Based on affirmative response prevalence, the items referring to child hunger tended to be the most severe. However, social unacceptability of procuring food was the most severe item. This question asked ‘Was there any time during the past 3 months when you had to do something that you would have preferred not to do (such as begging or sending the children to work) to be able to get food?’ There were no food secure households in the sample, 44% were food insecure (FI), 49% were very FI, and 7% were extremely FI. Criterion validity was strong. Those reporting having good/very good health ranged from 38.8% among those FI to 9.1% among those extremely FI (p=0.02). Households with children who had recently had malaria were more likely to be very/extremely FI than households where the index child had been free of malaria (82.0% vs. 37.1%, p<0.001). Additional factors associated with very/extreme FI (p<0.05) were: female‐headed household, lack of electricity at home, no land ownership, and poorer dietary quality. Results suggest that ELCSA is a valid tool for assessing household FI in rural Haiti. Funded by CIDA (7034161) through a grant to the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT).