Food security stakeholders in Hawaii: perceptions of food security monitoring

Food security for community-living elderly people in Beijing, China

Food security has been identified as an important issue for elderly people's quality of life and ageing in place. A food security index composed of three indicators (food intake, food quality and food affordability) was developed to measure the food security status of community-living elderly people. Food security was then examined among community-living elderly in the central urban districts of Beijing, China. Data were collected by a questionnaire survey in the summer of 2013 and the response rate was 78.5%. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were applied to analyse food security and the associations between food security and demographic and socioeconomic factors. The results showed that 54.2% of the surveyed elderly experienced food security. Participants with better education (OR = 1.68) and better health (OR = 1.47) were more likely to experience food security. The young-old were less likely to experience food security than the older old (OR = 0.94). Elderly people who lived with their children were less likely to experience food security than those who lived alone (OR = 0.43). The results of impact factors on food security highlight both similarities with studies from more developed countries and the unique challenges faced in a rapidly changing China with its unique social, cultural and political systems. The food security index we developed in this study is a simple and effective measure of food security status, which can be used in surveys for evaluating the food security status of elderly people in the future.

Lessons learned from the "Spend Less. Eat Well. Feel Better." program efficacy trial

"Spend Less. Eat Well. Feel Better." (SLEWFB) is a 3-hour intervention designed to improve food resource management ability, health, and food security status. This program efficacy trial targeted clients seeking financial aid to prevent homelessness. A randomized controlled design using a 1-hour food safety intervention as a control group was used. Four variables were targeted over a 30-day time period: (1) food security status, (2) basic financial management, (3) average fruit and vegetable intake, and (4) goal accomplishment. Repeated-measures analysis of variance and chi-square analysis were used. Compared with control group participants (n = 47), SLEWFB graduates (n = 48) were less likely to have to choose between food and rent expenses (chi2 = 16.5, P =.00005) and improved their fruit and vegetable intake (F of time = 8.03, P <.006) regardless of financial assistance received. The findings imply that further investigation of coupling financial aid with effective life skills education is warranted.