Food Insecurity and Hunger in the United States An Assessment of the Measure (2006) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 13-22
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From page 13... ...
Food Security Measurement Project, an ongoing collaboration among federal agencies, academic researchers, and private organizations.
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From page 14... ...
uses the food security measure to assess the performance of its Healthy People 2010 initiative. The Food and Nutrition Service of USDA is using the measure as a target for its strategic plan to fulfill requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993.1 1 "The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 seeks to shift the focus of government decision making and accountability away from a preoccupation with the activities that are undertaken, such as grants dispensed or inspections made, to a focus on the results of those activities, such as real gains in employability, safety, responsiveness, or program quality.
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From page 15... ...
They also provide information that sheds light on the prevalence of hunger -- by describing the experiential-behavioral context in which hun ger occurs. (In early years of the Food Security Measurement Project, USDA analysts sometimes used wording such as "the prevalence of hunger" as shorthand for `the prevalence of food insecurity with hunger' in official reports and research articles.
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From page 16... ...
The mis sion statement of the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) , which ad ministers USDA's food assistance programs, includes the goal of increasing food security: "FNS increases food security and reduces hunger in partnership with cooperating organizations by providing children and low-income people access to food, a healthful diet, and nutrition education in a manner that supports American agriculture and inspires public confidence." · Provide data on household food security that can be used along with other survey information collected in surveys to assess the need for and effectiveness of public programs, especially food assistance pro grams; the causes of food insecurity at various levels of severity; and the effects of food insecurity on nutrition, health, children's develop ment, and other aspects of well-being.
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From page 17... ...
The specific tasks to be addressed in Phase 1 include: · the appropriateness of a household survey as a vehicle for monitor ing on a regular basis the prevalence of food insecurity among the general population and within broad population subgroups, includ ing 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 response theory and the Rasch model as a statistical basis for measuring food insecurity; · the appropriateness of the threshold scores that demarcate food in security categories -- particularly the categories "food insecure with hunger" and "food insecure with hunger among children" -- and the labeling and interpretation of each category; · the applicability of the current measure of the prevalence of food insecurity with hunger for assessing the effectiveness of USDA's food assistance programs, in connection with the performance goals
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From page 18... ...
In Phase 2 of the study the panel was to consider in more depth the issues identified in Phase 1 relating to the concepts and methods used to measure food security and make recommendations as appropriate. In addition, the panel was asked to 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 insecurity; · how best to incorporate and represent information about food secu rity of both adults and children at the household level; · how best to incorporate information on frequency and duration of food insecurity in prevalence measures; · needs and priorities for developing separate, tailored food security scales for population subgroups, for example, households versus in dividuals, all individuals versus children, and the general population versus homeless persons; and · future directions to consider for strengthening measures of food in security prevalence for monitoring, evaluation, and related research purposes throughout the national nutrition monitoring system.
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From page 19... ...
In order to provide timely guidance to USDA, the panel issued an interim Phase 1 report, Measuring Food Insecurity and Hunger: Phase 1 Report. That report presented the panel's preliminary assessment of the food security concepts and definitions, the appropriateness of identifying hunger as a severe range of food insecurity in such a survey-based measurement method, questions for measuring these concepts, and the appropriateness of a household survey for regularly monitoring food security in the U.S.
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From page 20... ...
However, the question of including or excluding homeless people from the Food Security Supplement to the CPS is not as straightforward as for other household surveys. Omitting the homeless is likely to result in an undercount of the number of more severely food-insecure persons.
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From page 21... ...
The chapter then examines the method currently used by USDA to measure food insecurity and its prevalence and the various issues involved with the method used, suggesting better ways to match the item response theory models with the nature of the data collected in the food insecurity surveys. Chapter 6 reviews the key features of selected national sample surveys in terms of their capacity to include the Food Security Supplement, compares the relative advantages and disadvantages of the surveys, and provides recommendations for USDA's future consideration.
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From page 22... ...
22 FOOD INSECURITY AND HUNGER IN THE UNITED STATES The panel hopes that the report and its recommendations will contribute to the development of a revised, efficient, and cost-effective system for monitoring the prevalence of food insecurity in the United States, as well as provide the basis for research to answer the important questions about the broader health and socioeconomic and psychological consequences of food insecurity.
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