Disease and disaster: Navigating food insecurity in a community affected by crises during COVID-19

Abstract

This exploratory study examines how a community experiencing food insecurity while navigating multiple crises can be a model to inform resources, processes, and systems supporting communities facing similar circumstances. Data for this study were collected from residents of a community in Oconee County, a rural county in the northwest corner of South Carolina experiencing pervasive food insecurity. The community was severely impacted by the onset of COVID-19 and further devastated by a tornado in mid-April. The area of the county that sustained the greatest damage from the tornado was the Utica Mill Hill community, home to the county’s most vulnerable population. This cascading series of events constituted a crisis-within-a-crisis for the community. In this study, we sought to learn more about community members’ experiences and the effects of the crises on com­munity members’ access to food. We conducted in-depth interviews with 14 residents living in the Utica Mill Hill community. The results provided insight into community members’ experiences of the crises and the nature of community-level response and recovery efforts. We learned about participants’ experiences with food insecurity, new food policy developments, and gained unexpected insight into community members’ experiences with mental health challenges related to the crises.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Rural Food Security in High Income Countries: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Full details of the study designs, settings, populations, and domains of food security examined are summarized in Table 2 . More than half of the 22 included studies were conducted in rural USA ( n = 13) [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ], with others being conducted in Australia [ 39 , 40 ], Canada [ 41 ], the UK [ 42 ], Poland [ 43 ], Israel [ 44 ], Chile [ 45 ] and Germany [ 46 ]. One study was conducted in an international sample, comprising participants from 62 different countries [ 47 ].…”

“…One study was conducted in an international sample, comprising participants from 62 different countries [ 47 ]. Most studies ( n = 16) collected data on adult populations or household-level information [ 27 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 47 ], while two specifically focused on households or families comprising both adults and children [ 26 , 32 ]. Three studies reported on the impact of COVID-19 on food outlets such as stores [ 28 ], farmers markets [ 33 ], and food banks [ 46 ].…”

“…Sixteen were quantitative in design [ 26 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 41 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ], with a sample size for the rural sample ranging from 50 to 1766 ( Table 2 ). Three studies were mixed-methods [ 27 , 34 , 42 ] and three were qualitative [ 35 , 36 , 40 ], with the rural sample size ranging from 14 to 92 ( Table 2 ). Of the included studies, most ( n = 12) captured food insecurity-related data using online surveys [ 26 , 27 , 29 , 30 , 34 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 46 , 47 ].…”

“…Others utilized telephone surveys [ 33 , 44 , 45 ] or surveys conducted via text-messages [ 32 ]. Three studies collected data using focus groups [ 35 , 40 ] or interviews [ 36 ]. One study collected data directly from participants through their standard care appointments with a community service program [ 31 ].…”

“…An overview of the included studies reporting on the domains of food access is presented in Table 5 . Five quantitative studies [ 28 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 38 ], three qualitative studies [ 35 , 36 , 40 ] and one mixed-methods study [ 34 ] investigated challenges related to access to food in rural areas during the pandemic. All of the studies highlighted that there were various challenges in accessing food during the pandemic.…”