The Impact of COVID-19 on Experiences of Food Insecurity Across Place: A Qualitative Research Protocol

• Published in: International journal of qualitative methods 2021-12, Vol.20
• Main Authors: Bowen, Sarah, Hardison-Moody, Annie, Eshleman, Kim, Hossfeld, Cassius, Maaita, Marah, Muhammad, Najma, Shisler, Rebecca, Solorzano, G
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Agriculture; Children; Cognitive-behavioral factors; Comparative studies; COVID-19; Evictions; Food; Food security; Food supply; Health behavior; Healthy food; Households; Immigrants; Industrialized nations; Insecurity; Latin American cultural groups; Low income groups; Oral health; Pandemics; Qualitative research; Scarcity; Shortages; Unemployment; Welfare
• ISSN: 1609-4069; 1609-4069
• DOI: 10.1177/16094069211062416

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of food insecurity in the United States doubled overall and tripled among households with children (Schanzenbach & Pitts, 2020). The increase was both unparalleled and disproportionately experienced by low-income, Black, Latino/a/x, and immigrant households (Lauren et al., 2021; Morales et al., 2020; Nagata et al., 2021; Wolfson & Leung, 2020).Even before the pandemic, rates of food insecurity in the United States were unusually high compared to other industrialized countries. Although parents try to shield their children from food insecurity (Elliott & Bowen, 2018; Olson, 2005; Stevens, 2010), research shows that children in food-insecure households are aware of food shortages (Fram et al., 2011) and experience a host of negative effects, including poorer general and oral health, poorer academic performance, behavioral and cognitive problems, and depression, aggression, and anxiety (Gundersen & Ziliak, 2014, 2018; Jyoti et al., 2005; Whitaker et al., 2006).The pandemic has revealed both the inadequacy and the potential of the U.S. welfare system. The United States Department of Agriculture’s comprehensive report on food insecurity in U.S. households throughout 2020, released in September 2021, estimates that surprisingly, the overall prevalence of food insecurity did not increase from 2019 (before the pandemic) to 2020, even though households spent more on food during the pandemic (Coleman-Jensen et al., 2021). Early research suggests that boosts to federal food assistance programs and other pandemic responses (such as the Federal supplement to unemployment and the eviction moratorium) may have made the difference. However, rates of food insecurity rose among specific groups, and the USDA concludes that more research is needed to understand the dynamics of food insecurity and other food hardships in U.S. households during the pandemic (Ibid.).