The Association Between Food Insecurity and Psychological Distress Among Graduate Health Professions Students

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of and examine the association between food insecurity and psychological distress among graduate health professions students during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Between January and March 2021, a cross-sectional web-based survey was administered through Qualtrics to a convenience sample of graduate health professions students enrolled in a northeastern public university. Bivariate and multinomial logistic regressions were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Five hundred and fifty-five students completed the survey for a response rate of 11.97%. The sample was predominately female (69%) and non-Hispanic (88.4%) with a mean age of 27.2 ± 5.9 years. Nearly one-fifth (18.4%) of students reported some level of food insecurity in the past year, and 37.3% reported experiencing mild (22.3%) or moderate (15.0%) psychological distress over the past 30 days. Bivariate analyses revealed students who reported food insecurity were more likely receiving financial support requiring repayment (p = 0.003), supporting others with person income (p < 0.001), had moved in with another individual due to financial problems (p < 0.001), or reported loss of income related to the COVID-19 pandemic (p < 0.001). After adjusting for nine covariates including age, ethnicity, sex at birth, annual personal income, etc., in the multinomial logistic regression model, students who reported food insecurity were 2.17 and 3.87 times more likely to experience mild and moderate psychological distress, respectively, than their food secure counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: Food insecurity was associated with psychological distress in graduate health professions students. Due to the potential negative effects food insecurity can have on academic and clinical performance, multifaceted screening methods and interventions are needed to improve the physical and mental well-being of future healthcare professionals. FUNDING SOURCES: No external funding was used to support this research.