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Exploring Perceived Importance of a Novel Emergency Food Program during COVID-19 and Program Recipient Characteristics

Following rising unemployment rates and consequent loss of income due to COVID-19, many people have been seeking meal assistance. This study examines the impact of a community-based free meal distribution program during the pandemic in Kentucky, reviewing characteristics of recipients of the program...

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Autores principales: Barr, Makenzie L., OoNorasak, Kendra, Hughes, Kristin, Batey, Lauren, Jackson, Kaela, Marshall, Haley, Stephenson, Tammy
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8535328/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34682533
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010786
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author Barr, Makenzie L.
OoNorasak, Kendra
Hughes, Kristin
Batey, Lauren
Jackson, Kaela
Marshall, Haley
Stephenson, Tammy
author_facet Barr, Makenzie L.
OoNorasak, Kendra
Hughes, Kristin
Batey, Lauren
Jackson, Kaela
Marshall, Haley
Stephenson, Tammy
author_sort Barr, Makenzie L.
collection PubMed
description Following rising unemployment rates and consequent loss of income due to COVID-19, many people have been seeking meal assistance. This study examines the impact of a community-based free meal distribution program during the pandemic in Kentucky, reviewing characteristics of recipients of the program. Demographics, health behaviors, food insecure classification, and rating of importance of the meal program were collected. Qualitative feedback on the impact of the program was collected via open response. Of the 92 participants using the meal service, the cohort was female, Black, 43 years of age (43.5 ± 15.0 years), with a household income under 30,000 USD before COVID, decreased income since COVID, and were food insecure. Recipients rated the importance of the service as 8.7 ± 1.8 (of 10), and those with children indicated the importance as 4.2 ± 1.1 (of 5). Qualitative data on program importance highlighted four response categories including “changed habits”, “mental wellbeing”, “provided resources”, and “other”. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many individuals have struggled. Meal assistance programs are a fundamental asset in the community that have seen marketed demand since COVID-19. Collaboration with, and evaluation of, meal assistance programs can be valuable for continued programmatic funding support.
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spelling pubmed-85353282021-10-23 Exploring Perceived Importance of a Novel Emergency Food Program during COVID-19 and Program Recipient Characteristics Barr, Makenzie L. OoNorasak, Kendra Hughes, Kristin Batey, Lauren Jackson, Kaela Marshall, Haley Stephenson, Tammy Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Following rising unemployment rates and consequent loss of income due to COVID-19, many people have been seeking meal assistance. This study examines the impact of a community-based free meal distribution program during the pandemic in Kentucky, reviewing characteristics of recipients of the program. Demographics, health behaviors, food insecure classification, and rating of importance of the meal program were collected. Qualitative feedback on the impact of the program was collected via open response. Of the 92 participants using the meal service, the cohort was female, Black, 43 years of age (43.5 ± 15.0 years), with a household income under 30,000 USD before COVID, decreased income since COVID, and were food insecure. Recipients rated the importance of the service as 8.7 ± 1.8 (of 10), and those with children indicated the importance as 4.2 ± 1.1 (of 5). Qualitative data on program importance highlighted four response categories including “changed habits”, “mental wellbeing”, “provided resources”, and “other”. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many individuals have struggled. Meal assistance programs are a fundamental asset in the community that have seen marketed demand since COVID-19. Collaboration with, and evaluation of, meal assistance programs can be valuable for continued programmatic funding support. MDPI 2021-10-14 /pmc/articles/PMC8535328/ /pubmed/34682533 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010786 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Barr, Makenzie L.
OoNorasak, Kendra
Hughes, Kristin
Batey, Lauren
Jackson, Kaela
Marshall, Haley
Stephenson, Tammy
Exploring Perceived Importance of a Novel Emergency Food Program during COVID-19 and Program Recipient Characteristics
title Exploring Perceived Importance of a Novel Emergency Food Program during COVID-19 and Program Recipient Characteristics
title_full Exploring Perceived Importance of a Novel Emergency Food Program during COVID-19 and Program Recipient Characteristics
title_fullStr Exploring Perceived Importance of a Novel Emergency Food Program during COVID-19 and Program Recipient Characteristics
title_full_unstemmed Exploring Perceived Importance of a Novel Emergency Food Program during COVID-19 and Program Recipient Characteristics
title_short Exploring Perceived Importance of a Novel Emergency Food Program during COVID-19 and Program Recipient Characteristics
title_sort exploring perceived importance of a novel emergency food program during covid-19 and program recipient characteristics
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8535328/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34682533
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010786
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