Children Live, Feel, and Respond to Experiences of Food Insecurity That Compromise Their Development and Weight Status in Peri-Urban Venezuela,

Abstract

Children's experiences of food insecurity (FI) may be conceptually distinct and different from those of adults. Previous study of children's experiences of FI has relied primarily on their parents' perspective. This study explored, described, and conceptualized experiences of FI in children attending 5 public schools in peri-urban areas of the Miranda State, Venezuela, South America using a naturalistic approach. Children aged 10-17 y were studied through focus groups (n = 42) and individual interviews (n = 13). Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using grounded theory. Children were cognitively aware of FI, worry in their parents, and causes both external and internal to their households. Children were also emotionally aware of FI, with feelings of concern, anguish, and sadness, and manifestations such as crying. Children reported being physically hungry, experiencing reduced quantity and quality of food intake, having smaller meals, and recognizing thinness and fainting as consequences. Children's responses to FI included reduction of quality and quantity of food, child labor, sacrifice in food consumption, food from waste, support from extended family members, and strategies for purchasing, acquiring, preparing, and cooking food. Children were not always protected, especially when the head of the family was unemployed, had drug-alcohol problems, or was extremely poor. Protection could come from parents to children and from older children to parents and younger children. Children should have certain access to food that is dignified, timely, efficient, and adequate in harmonious social conditions to prevent and resolve situations that compromise their physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional well-being.

Food Security and outlook on Life of Undergraduates and Postgraduates in University of Uyo

“…Male respondents were more food secure (9, 2.9%) than females (7, 2.3%) though not significantly. Also recorded was that respondents in faculty of basic medicals were more food secure (6, 1.9%) while faculty of engineering shown the highest number of food insecure with severe hunger (36, 11.6%) followed by faculty of education (35,11.3%), though not significantly (table 3). Further analysis of food security revealed that respondents whose mother attained tertiary education were more food secure (11, 3.5%) than respondents whose mother's highest education attained was secondary level (5, 1.6); whereas respondents whose mother's educational qualification was primary, vocational/trained were not food secure and this is same for mothers with no formal education; but not significantly (table 4).…”

“…Effects of household food insecurity on children has been extensively researched [9], [10] evident in emotional disability and physical appearance [9], [10]- [11] Families with older children are reported to be more food insecure; compensatory feeding patterns engaged by low income families includes usage of nutrient supplement, high-energy boosters [12] and this is affect Globally there have been several moves by organizations to eradicate hunger and malnourishment. The first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) included in its targets the reduction by half of the amount of people who suffer from acute starvation and who earn less than $1 per day by the year 2015 [13].…”

The Measurement of Food Insecurity Among Children

“…To date there has been less extensive use of child self-report assessments of child food insecurity, but existing work supports the existence of common crosscultural domains. Studies in the United States and Venezuela both found that children experience awareness of food insecurity, including cognitive awareness, emotional or psychological awareness, and physical awareness [48,53]. There are also commonalities in how children take on responsibilities for managing food insecurity, including children's participation in parent-initiated strategies, and strategies that children initiate themselves.…”

“…Depending on the laws in each country, a procedure would be needed to establish responsibility for reporting and disclosure of child maltreatment, how to respond, and who should respond. The research done in the United States and Venezuela [48,53] on direct measurement with children has found that children as young as 7 years of age can respond accurately to questionnaire items, but further work should be done to determine the earliest age when child self-reporting is appropriate and who (e.g., caregiver, older sibling) should best be the reporter when children are too young to report for themselves. Other research in countries should be done to determine any differences by gender, what is the appropriate recall period, how do children understand time in relation to events, and what prompts can help children situate experiences accurately within time.…”

“…For the child-level approach (i.e., directly measuring child food insecurity) to work, information is needed that builds on and expands the existing qualitative [48,53] and quantitative research [3,8,16] that has been done in the United States and Venezuela. The required process for developing a base of knowledge about domains and potential indicators across countries has been successfully implemented previously to develop international measures and indicators of household food insecurity [41] and of family care [65].…”