Holiday Hunger and Parental Stress: Evidence from North East England

Stretesky, Paul B.; Defeyter, Margaret Anne; Long, Michael A.; Ritchie, Liesel A.; Gill, Duane A.

doi:10.3390/su12104141

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…It may also be the case that the necessity to develop and employ strategies to ensure that their children can access food throughout the year, may contribute to the poor mental health and well-being that is often experienced by food insecure adults (64,67,68). The toll of constantly employing strategies to mitigate food insecurity may be an important consideration for studies that have reported that holiday activity and food programmes improve parental well-being (4,13,48,69).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For many low-income families in the UK, the school summer holiday period is a time of dread. Parental stress levels increase as parents and carers face a number of challenges including the cost of entertaining their children and the cost of childcare which increases during the summer break (1)(2)(3)(4). However, one of the biggest challenges low income families face during the summer break is the added expense of feeding their children, and this pressure is more keenly felt amongst parents and carers whose children normally receive free school meals during term time (3,(5)(6)(7)(8)(9).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Food Insecurity: A Constant Factor in the Lives of Low-Income Families in Scotland and England

Shinwell

Defeyter

2021

Front. Public Health

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During the school summer holidays, pressures on the already tight budgets of low-income families are compounded, particularly when the safety net of free school meals is removed. The main aim of the current study was to investigate how low-income parents and carers feed their families during term time when children receive free school meals and if, and how, strategies differ during the school summer holidays. A secondary aim was to investigate the role of holiday activity and food programmes in supporting parents and carers to feed their children during the school summer holidays. We used purposive sampling to recruit a total of 21 parents (N = 20 Female, N = 1 Male) whose children attended free summer holiday clubs in Scotland and England during summer 2017. Participants were asked about their food and shopping habits during the school term and if, and how they differed during the school summer holidays when free school meals were not available. The findings suggest that food insecurity is a constant factor in the lives of low-income parents in England and Scotland, and that the stages of food insecurity and the strategies employed to mitigate its effects appear to be cyclical, aligning with the Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) food insecurity continuum and the school academic year. During term time, parents and carers worried about food, suggesting they were experiencing mild food insecurity, despite their children being in receipt of free school meals. As the school holidays approached, moderate food insecurity was experienced as parents reported that they began “provisioning,” storing food and reducing household expenditure. During the summer holidays, food did not last, and parental food acquisition habits became more intense. Parents downgraded food brands and bought reduced price items of food. Ultimately, parents self-sacrificed their own nutritional intake by only buying food their children would eat and parents often skipped meals or only ate their children's leftovers. However, children's attendance at holiday club helped make the food at home last longer and once school resumed, parents returned to their less intense, but constantly coping approach to food shopping. The findings of this study suggest that food insecurity is a constant factor in the lives of low-income families who simply do not have enough household income to prevent them from experiencing food insecurity, even when initiatives such as free school meals and access to holiday club provision with food and activities are in place.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food Insecurity: A Constant Factor in the Lives of Low-Income Families in Scotland and England

Shinwell

Defeyter

2021

Front. Public Health

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“…The global pandemic has increased social isolation (Chen et al, 2020;Johnson et al, 2020), family stressors (including increased need for childcare, limitations with parental ability to return to the workforce, and parent-child conflicts) (Johnson et al, 2020;Levinson et al, 2020), financial strain (Dunn et al, 2020;Johnson et al, 2020;Levinson et al, 2020), and food insecurity (Dunn et. al, 2020;Stretesky et al, 2020).…”

Section: Youth Summer Stress and Covid-19mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The literature regarding youth and summer stress is relatively sparse, though existing research has identified mediators of poor mental health during the summer for youth as including food insecurity (Morgan et al, 2019;Stretesky et al, 2020;Turner & Calvert, 2019), loneliness/social isolation (Morgan et al, 2019), physical activity (Morgan et al, 2019), structure (Boylan, 2019), and parental stress (Stretesky et al, 2020), with disproportionate effects on low SES individuals (Morgan et al, 2019;Turner & Calvert, 2019).…”

Section: Youth Summer Stress and Covid-19mentioning

confidence: 99%

“Now We’re All Family”: Exploring Social and Emotional Development in a Summer Hip Hop Mixtape Camp

Travis

Levy

Morphew

2022

Child Adolesc Soc Work J

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Child and adolescent mental health indicators were trending in the wrong direction pre-COVID-19 and have worsened with the exacerbation of life stressors during a pandemic, especially among youth of color and girls (Racine et al. in JAMA Pediatr 175:1142-1150. Hip Hop integrated group work with adolescents has increased in the literature, with an emphasis on being more culturally responsive and engaging compared to traditional therapeutic approaches. Levy and Travis (J Spec Group Work 45:307-330, 2020) found in their research that while all Hip Hop integrated groups were effective, the semistructured group had the most significant reduction in symptoms of stress, depression, and anxiety, compared to the highly structured and minimally structured groups. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether a Hip Hop integrated intervention, that is multi-modal and interdisciplinary (i.e., blending two distinct models [HHE/CCMC] and facilitated by a social worker and school counselor). could effectively promote positive social and emotional development, across three leadership styles. Three groups of six high school students (total n = 18), identifying predominantly as Latinx and Black, were selected from a high school summer enrichment program. Results suggest social and emotional benefits for youth across all groups, regardless of facilitation style. Benefits included increased confidence, a strong sense of community, experiencing joy, and a willingness to step outside of their comfort zones to collaborate and create something personally meaningful. The setting (summer) and sample (high school students) have implications for programming and policies to best meet the mental health needs of youth year round and during times of instability.

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“…Examples of these new food vulnerabilities have been documented for countries such as the United States [10], the United Kingdom [11,12], and Australia [13]. In the authors' home state of Queensland, Australia, major charities have reported increased stress in the provision of food relief over the last two years.…”

Section: Introduction: Increasing Experiences Of Food Insecuritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Working through Disaster Risk Management to Support Regional Food Resilience: A Case Study in North-Eastern Australia

et al. 2022

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As a consequence of disasters such as pandemics and severe weather events, Australian communities often face ‘food shortages’ resulting from the reduced availability of food and reduced access to available food. These food shortages can be acutely felt by vulnerable populations, comprising people in communities who are already dealing with social or economic disadvantages. Despite growing calls to ensure food access for everyone during and following disasters, efforts are still largely ad hoc, champion based and highly variable in their reliability and quality of supply. There is also a disconnect between disaster-related food relief and improving business continuity towards local economic resilience. This study sought to tackle these challenges by exploring how ‘local food access’ could be integrated within disaster management mechanisms, to support the most vulnerable and also contribute to local economic resilience. This paper discusses the findings of a study undertaken in Cairns, a north-eastern Australian regional authority, and involves a review of disaster management planning and policy artifacts, an online survey, and semi-structured interviews with stakeholders providing care and advocacy for vulnerable populations. Synthesizing the findings, we present a disaster-management-focused ‘Local Food Access Model’ that connects shorter food supply chains to improved disaster response, resilience and contingency-planning agendas. Applying this model to Cairns, we conclude the multiple benefits and immediate stakeholder readiness for a virtual (online) food resilience and contingency hub, to enable the connection of local food availability and access information within existing disaster management processes. The research method used, the model, and the case-specific findings provide government decision makers with a useful process, a local food-access schematic and a case study example to support immediate improvements in disaster resilience for vulnerable populations.

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Holiday Hunger and Parental Stress: Evidence from North East England

Cited by 6 publications

References 56 publications

Food Insecurity: A Constant Factor in the Lives of Low-Income Families in Scotland and England

Food Insecurity: A Constant Factor in the Lives of Low-Income Families in Scotland and England

“Now We’re All Family”: Exploring Social and Emotional Development in a Summer Hip Hop Mixtape Camp

Working through Disaster Risk Management to Support Regional Food Resilience: A Case Study in North-Eastern Australia

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