Public Health Education and Promotion Commons^™

Addressing Rural Food Insecurity: A Flexible Approach Using Evidence-Based Practices, Alison Clayshulte

Master's Projects and Capstones

Food insecurity is a major public health problem in the United States that can lead to worse physical and mental health outcomes for millions of Americans. Rural communities struggle with food insecurity at a higher rate, leading to disproportionately higher levels of chronic conditions, obesity, and stress. Food insecurity is a symptom of many factors including underlying social, economic, and institutional obstacles that affect the quantity and quality of available food. Examples of evidence-based programs implemented to address these factors abound, however rural communities have unique challenges that must be considered to ensure programmatic success. This paper explores these challenges …

Assessing Social Determinants Of Health In Primary Care, Vicki Carpenter

Doctoral Projects

The social determinants of health encompass the various circumstances and environments in which individuals reside, develop, labor, and experience aging (Social Determinants of Health, 2022). These variables significantly contribute to the existence of health inequities and disparities within populations. In order to effectively mitigate health disparities, it is imperative to consider the various determinants that influence health outcomes, as this consideration is crucial for advancing the goal of achieving health equity. This public health concern encompasses multiple sectors within our society, necessitating the collaboration of various organizations and communities to effectively address and mitigate its impact.

The fundamental …

Advancing Kidney Health In Hispanic/Latino Communities In The Us: Promotoras, Health Education, And Food Security, Estefania Huerta

Master's Projects and Capstones

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is not only a public health concern that affects the health of people living in the United States, but also a global health concern affecting millions worldwide. Diabetes is the leading cause of CKD and when CKD is not managed, it can turn into a life-threatening condition known as End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) where life is not sustainable without dialysis or a kidney transplant. Although CKD is prevalent among all populations in the United States, the Hispanic/Latino population suffers the most complications (Desai et al., 2019). In 1973, Congress extended Medicare services to people with ESRD …

Food Insecurity And Residential Segregation Among Adults In The United States: The National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey 2017- March 2020 Pre-Pandemic Data., Chandre' L. Chaney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Food insecurity is when a household has insufficient food supply due to limited economic resources. It is a public health issue that continues to persist. The health, social, and economic impact affects millions of people nationwide. Residential segregation is a primary cause of inequities and health disparities. It shapes the differences in socio-economic conditions between Blacks and Whites living in the U.S. This country is segregated across racial lines in many of our most populated metropolitan cities. Americans worship in different churches, learn in disparate schools, and live in separate neighborhoods. Residential segregation has consequences that impact the economy, professional …

Wernicke's Encephalopathy: Mapping The Risk Factors Throughout The State Of South Carolina, Shannon M. Rychener

Senior Theses

Wernicke’s Encephalopathy is a consistently underrecognized neurodegenerative brain disorder resulting from prolonged thiamine deficiency. Clinical presentation of the disease results from brain lesions attributable to thiamine deficiency. Because these lesions occur in various locations in the cerebral cortex, symptoms can vary significantly. Varied presentation of symptoms, in addition to the lack of a widely accepted biomarker for the disorder cause challenges to clinicians when identifying and diagnosing the disorder. Due to these challenges, healthcare providers must heavily rely on patient history and risk factor prevalence when multiple symptoms of the disorder are present. By mapping the prevalence of the four …

The Role Of Food Insecurity With Hunger And Physical Activity Level On Binge Drinking Among Vermont High School Students, Joe Stacy, Codi Williams, Zyakkiriah Rhoden, Han Naung Tun

Master of Public Health Culminating Projects

Objective: To determine the association of hunger, physical activity, Black Indigenous People Of Color (BIPOC) status , and BMI percentile on binge drinking among Vermont high schoolers.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on Vermont high school students aged between 12 to 18 years (n=18,540) using data obtained from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey of the Vermont Department of Health. Multiple logistic regression models were utilized to investigate the correlation between binge drinking status and hunger status, physically active status, BIPOC status, and Body Mass Index percentile.

Results: Binge drinkers had significantly higher levels of hunger …

Food Insecurity Resilience Of Refugee Families In The United States: A Qualitative Study, Maryam Suliman Alhabas

Theses and Dissertations

Refugee families living in the United States often encounter a number of challenges while trying to build a new home and maintain their household food security. Refugee families at high risk of experiencing food insecurity in the resettlement country. Food insecurity among US refugee families is a major public health concern as it adversely impacts their health and wellbeing, since it affects dietary intake and mental health and associated with illness, poor nutrition, and obesity. Little is known about what happens when refugee families face food insecurity experience, and the role of their social contexts in that experience. The objective …

Parental Engagement To Influence Child Nutrition Habits, Mariah Van Ardenne

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Brighter Bites Salinas is a non-profit agency whose mission is to create healthy communities through fresh food. They do this by providing nutrition education to children and delivering free, fresh produce to parents. In the United States, obesity and food insecurity are common, intertwined issues among children. The contributing factors to these entangled issues are associated with living in poverty, acculturation of minority groups, and negative parental influence. The consequences of this include increased risk of chronic diseases, high-cost treatments, and mental health issues. This capstone project was created to positively engage parents in nutrition education to influence their children’s …

Beliefs About Food Education And Healthy Food Consumption In Food Insecure Areas, Eboni Drummond

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many food desert residents suffer from food insecurity as a result of residing in communities where access to affordable, healthy foods is limited. This limited access can make it difficult for these residents to consume healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables, on a consistent basis. To increase access to healthy foods, interventions such as the building of supermarkets, the introduction of mobile farmers markets or mobile produce markets, and the conversion of local corner stores into healthy corner stores are often introduced to food desert communities. However, these intervention efforts fail to focus on non-physical factors, such as the …

Economic Insecurity, Poverty, And Parental Alcohol Misuse, Joey Tucciarone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Because parental alcohol misuse is associated with numerous negative outcomes for drinkers and other family members, it is important to examine factors predictive of alcohol misuse patterns among parents living with at least one child under the age of 18. Two possible factors include economic insecurity and poverty. This study sought to address whether measures of economic insecurity (i.e., housing and/or food insecurity in the past 12 months) and a dichotomous measure of poverty predict parental binge drinking and parental heavy alcohol consumption in a large population-based sample. It was hypothesized that economic insecurity and poverty, analyzed separately, would predict …

Impact Of Covid-19 On The Severe Acute Malnutrition Admissions Among Children Under 5 Years Of Age Seeking Nutrition Services In Afghanistan, Sahar Sayedy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the number of admissions of severe acute malnutrition among children under 5 years of age seeking nutrition services in Afghanistan especially in the provinces where the prevalence of COVID-19 was high, for the period of February – September 2020. The study used comparison and analysis of secondary datasets of the Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition – a national program for detection and management of moderate and severe acute malnutrition in the country.

This study analyzed the association between COVID-19 cases and severe acute malnutrition (SAM) admissions of …

Food Insecurity In Community College Students In The Central Valley Of California, Leah Carter

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractMany college students struggle with having enough money to pay for the costs of college and basic necessities, such as adequate food, which leads to food insecurity. Food insecurity results in a more challenging time focusing on studying and less success in school. This study addressed the lack of a profile of a food-insecure California community college student at Hiker’s Community College (HCC; pseudonym) in the Central Valley of California. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the profile of a food-insecure student and to determine relationships between food insecurity and ethnicity, gender, being a first-generation college student, …

A Qualitative Study Of The Genesis Of A Community Food Pantry For Students Of Higher Education, Elizabeth Fast

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: The purpose of this case study was to understand the development of a food pantry for students of higher education at a Midwestern university.

Methods: The researchers recruited 11 individuals on the food pantry’s board using a snowball sampling method to participate in a 30-minute interview about the food pantry’s development from conception to implementation. The interviews were transcribed and then qualitatively analyzed by two researchers. The researchers coded interviews separately to identify frequent commonalities between participant responses. The researchers then organized the codes into themes, which were then summarized in the results of this study.

Results: The first …

Increasing Food Security: Developing And Testing A Nutrition Education Curriculum For A Mobile Food Pantry, Alexandra Lepecha, Kathleen M. Kraft

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Background: The Neighborhood Produce Market (NPM) is a food distribution model similar to a mobile food pantry. NPM stakeholders observed a lack of community engagement and familiarity with produce offered.

Project Description: The objective was to develop a nutrition education curriculum for NPM volunteers to better engage families and community members by providing food samples, recipes, and nutrition education. A stakeholder steering committee guided the needs assessment, curriculum development, volunteer training, and pilot test. The curriculum consisted of food safety, cultural considerations, and nutritional information for nine produce items and food tasting procedures and recipes. Seven student volunteers were trained …

Parenting And Child Self-Regulation As Mechanisms For The Relationship Of Household Food Insecurity With Child Dietary Behavior, Hoa Thi Mai Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Food insecurity is both a nutritional problem and a stressful life experience of adults and children in households dealing with food shortage. Potential mechanisms of the associations between food insecurity and adverse outcomes in children’s health and development are through parenting and child self-regulation.

Objectives: We investigated parenting and child self-regulation as potential mechanisms for the relationship of food insecurity with child dietary behaviors with two specific aims. Specific aim 1 was to understand how food insecurity and its change over time relate to parenting in early childhood. Specific aim 2 was to understand the relationship of parenting in …

Beliefs And Opinions Of Low-Income Residents Living In A Food Desert In A Gulf Coast State, Kimberly Lakeidra Willis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study was an investigation of the access problem to fresh and affordable fruits and vegetables and how limited access influenced the beliefs and opinions of residents of a food desert as designated by United States Department of Agriculture. Many researchers have documented that price, availability, and transportation are barriers to fruit and vegetable consumption, particularly among low-income individuals. Researchers in other studies have concluded that these barriers are further exacerbated by an individual's distance from a supermarket or grocery store. However, much less information is available regarding the beliefs and opinions about life in a food desert and how …

The Influence Of Food Insecurity, Low-Income, And Race On Diabetes Self-Management Practices Among Women With Diabetes, Jill La Capria

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Diabetes is a chronic condition affecting more than 30 million adults living in the United States. Diabetes self-management (DSM) can prevent or delay the complications of diabetes and improve clinical outcomes; however, data show that low-income, food insecurity, female gender, and race contribute to challenges performing effective DSM. The health belief model was the theoretical framework for this cross-sectional study, which examined how food insecurity, low-income, and race affect DSM activities in women with diabetes. The sample population from the 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey consisted of 1,842 women with diabetes who were 18 years of age or …

Impact Of Food Insecurity On The Management Of Illness In Wayne County, Ohio, Bernadette Coleen Paul

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The incidence of food insecurity coupled with poor management of illnesses poses a

public health challenge. Poor adherence to medication regimens is a contributor to poor

health outcomes, especially among the socioeconomically disadvantaged. Food insecurity

is a global health and nutrition problem that affects approximately 50 million people in

the United States. The number of food-insecure households in the United States has

increased by 12% since 1995, and so has the burden of management of illnesses. The cost

of healthcare has risen from 5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 1960 to 20% of

the GDP currently. This quantitative …

Community Risk Factors And Health Inspection Violations In Mississippi Delta Census Tracts, Chrystal S. Early

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A concerning public health issue in America is about food deserts urban and rural communities that lack grocery retailers that offer affordable, nutritious, and diverse foods. Empirical evidence has shown significant associations between neighborhood disadvantage/disorder risk factors of high poverty and high percentages of ethnic minority residents with presence/ absence of healthy food retailers in food deserts. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study, framed by the disparities in food safety conceptual model, was to examine if county-level poverty, number of African American residents, number of elderly (i.e., age 65 or older) residents, vehicle ownership, and crime rates were significantly …

Who's Hungry In San Diego, Alison M. Schurman, Kathy S. James

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Objective: Food insecurity (FI) is a lack of access to nutritious food. FI has been linked to multiple preventable diseases from behavioral disorders to asthma to obesity and its sequelae. In San Diego County, 14 percent of families are food insecure. The AAP recommends screening for FI at all well appointments using the two-question FI screening tool. The aim of this project was to implement this tool at a multi-clinic, low income population community health center where ninety-five percent of patients meet qualification for SNAP benefits.

Methods: Stakeholders chose one week to screen all patients presenting to clinic for FI …