Measuring Food Insecurity and Hunger Phase 1 Report (2005) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
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Food Security Measurement Project, an ongoing collaboration among federal agencies, academic researchers, and private organizations. The measure was developed over the course of several years in response to the National Nutrition Monitoring Act of 1990.
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The charge specifies that during Phase 1 of the study a workshop will be held to address the key issues laid out for the study and a short report will be prepared based on the workshop discussions and preliminary deliberations of the panel. The specific tasks to be addressed in Phase 1 of the study are: · the appropriateness of a household survey as a vehicle for moni toring on a regular basis the prevalence of food insecurity among the general population and within broad population subgroups, including measuring frequency and duration; · the appropriateness of identifying hunger as a severe range of food insecurity in such a survey-based measurement method; · the appropriateness, in principle and in application, of item re sponse theory and the Rasch model as a statistical basis for mea suring food insecurity; · the appropriateness of the threshold scores that demarcate food insecurity categories -- particularly the categories"food insecure with hunger" and "food insecure with hunger among chil dren" -- and the labeling and interpretation of each category;
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In addition, the panel will address and make recommendations on: · the content of the 18 items and the set of food security scales based on them currently used by USDA to measure food inse curity; · how best to incorporate and represent information about food security of both adults and children at the household level; · how best to incorporate information on food insecurity in prevalence measures; · needs and priorities for developing separate, tailored food secu rity scales for population subgroups, for example, households versus individuals, all individuals versus children, and the gen eral population versus homeless persons; · future directions to consider for strengthening measures of food insecurity prevalence for monitoring, evaluation, and related research purposes throughout the national nutrition monitor ing system. This report addresses the panel's mandate for Phase 1 only and provides the panel's preliminary assessment of the food security measure and interim guidance for the continued production of the food security estimates.
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models to estimate food insecurity experienced by households in the United States. The Rasch model, a specific type of IRT model, is used to estimate the food insecurity of survey respondents.
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Threshold Scores USDA totals the sum of affirmative responses to the food security scale questions and uses threshold scores to classify households as either food secure, food insecure without hunger, or food insecure with hunger. It is common and accepted practice to use such thresholds with IRT models.
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The current version of the 18-item food security scale used in the CPS does not collect much information relevant to frequency and duration. If the goal is to obtain better information about the frequency and duration of food insecurity, USDA might consider using questions on these topics from the full Food Security Supplement and not just the 18-item scale.
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These prevalence estimates are not well designed for use in measuring progress toward meeting the goals of the Government Performance and Results Act for food assistance programs. Evaluating the efficacy of food assistance programs by examining fluctuations in prevalence of food insecurity has little meaning.
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However, the appropriate categories and labels need to be examined further. Conclusion 4: A household interview survey may be one appropriate vehi cle to query households about their food security experiences and to mea sure the prevalence of food insecurity among households.
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In the meantime, USDA should continue to measure food insecurity as currently conducted using the Food Security Supplement of the CPS.
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