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Mixed methods approach to characterize longitudinal food insecurity and coping strategies in the Peruvian Amazon
Author(s) -
Ambikapathi Ramya,
Yori Pablo,
Rothstein Jessica,
Paredes Olortegui Maribel,
Lee Gwenyth,
Kosek Margaret,
Caulfield Laura
Publication year - 2015
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.29.1_supplement.39.3
Subject(s) - food insecurity , cronbach's alpha , amazon rainforest , environmental health , geography , food security , medicine , psychology , socioeconomics , business , agriculture , marketing , economics , ecology , archaeology , biology , service (business)
Food insecurity, defined as the capacity to acquire preferred food at all times, can manifest into many levels. Following the methods of Frongillo et al in Bangladesh and Burkina Faso, we used experience‐based measures in the Peruvian Amazon, including measures of food purchases (staples, meat, vegetables, fruits, condiments), frequency of purchase, location of acquisition (market, corner store, city), food expenses and coping mechanisms (gardening, crediting, gifting, fishing) in the last 7 days as a proxy for food insecurity. Initially, interviews with community workers were used to identify frequently purchased food items, local coping practices and food acquisition strategies (57 items). The survey was piloted among 35 randomly selected participants from the Peru Malnutrition Enteric Disease (MAL‐ED) birth cohort. After pile sorting the surveys, the tool was reduced to 39 items and used monthly to survey families of 195 children 18‐51 months of age from November 2013‐2014. In this analysis, we show data (6 months follow‐up) on reliability and validity of this tool developed in Santa Clara, Peru. Food purchase (20 items) has a Cronbach's α of .71 and frequency of purchase has α of .81. The median food expense per person per day is USD 0.85 (IQR 0.58, 1.13) and at least 27% of the families at any time point purchased food on credit. We aim to establish construct validity through economic assets, food intakes and dietary adequacy. By evaluating the reliability and validity, we aim to characterize changes in coping strategies and levels of food insecurity over time, particularly in relation to the adequacy of diets among children under 5 years of age in this community.