Norhasmah S, Zalilah M S, Mohd Nasir M T, Kandiah M, Asnarulkhadi A S
Department of Resource Management and Consumer Studies, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Malays J Nutr. 2010 Apr;16(1):39-54. Epub 2010 Apr 15.
Understanding the experiences of household food insecurity is essential for better measurement and assessment of its nutritional, physical and psychological consequences. This qualitative study explored coping strategies and their perceived severity in relation to household food insecurity. Women (n=57; 20-50 years old) from rural and urban areas in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan participated in this study. These women were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was divided into two parts, that is, demographic and socio-economic information and women's experiences of coping with household food insecurity. Women were chosen since they were primarily responsible for food acquisition and preparation for the all household members. Thematic analysis was utilized in data analysis. Thematic analysis is a method for identifying, analysing and reporting patterns and themes of the qualitative data. Themes capture something important related to the study objectives and describe an integrating as well as relational idea from the data. Results showed that households displayed a variety of non-food related coping strategies and food-related coping strategies. Women's descriptions of non-food related coping strategies to food insecurity were categorised into five themes i.e. cloth purchasing behaviors, reduce school-going children's expenditure, delay the payment of bills, adjust lifestyle and increase cash and income earning. Food related coping strategies were categorised into four themes i.e. food stretching, food rationing, food seeking and food anxiety. Food stretching is a strategy of food insecurity that affects the quality of diet. Food rationing comprises coping strategies of food insecurity related to the quantity of food available for household's consumption. Food seeking is a strategy of acquiring food through socially unacceptable ways and food anxiety is a strategy that indicates households allocating money to buy staple food in order to prevent food insecurity. Each coping strategy showed a different level of perceived severity, that is, less severe, quite severe, severe and very severe. In conclusion, the qualitative data provide valuable information for understanding the experiences of food insecurity that can be used as a basis to develop direct indicators that can capture the core behaviours and their level of severity to measure household food insecurity.
了解家庭粮食不安全状况对于更好地衡量和评估其营养、身体和心理影响至关重要。这项定性研究探讨了与家庭粮食不安全相关的应对策略及其感知到的严重程度。来自雪兰莪州和森美兰州城乡地区的57名女性（年龄在20至50岁之间）参与了本研究。这些女性通过半结构化问卷接受了访谈。问卷分为两部分，即人口统计学和社会经济信息，以及女性应对家庭粮食不安全的经历。选择女性是因为她们主要负责为所有家庭成员获取和准备食物。数据分析采用了主题分析法。主题分析法是一种识别、分析和报告定性数据模式和主题的方法。主题捕捉与研究目标相关的重要内容，并描述数据中的整合及关联概念。结果表明，家庭展示了各种与非食物相关的应对策略和与食物相关的应对策略。女性对粮食不安全的非食物相关应对策略描述分为五个主题，即购买衣物行为、减少上学儿童的开支、推迟支付账单、调整生活方式以及增加现金和收入。与食物相关的应对策略分为四个主题，即食物量的节省、食物定量配给、寻找食物和食物焦虑。食物量的节省是一种影响饮食质量的粮食不安全策略。食物定量配给包括与家庭可消费食物数量相关的粮食不安全应对策略。寻找食物是通过社会不可接受的方式获取食物的策略，而食物焦虑是一种表明家庭为防止粮食不安全而分配资金购买主食的策略。每种应对策略都显示出不同程度的感知严重程度，即不太严重、相当严重、严重和非常严重。总之，定性数据为理解粮食不安全经历提供了有价值的信息，可作为制定直接指标的基础，这些指标能够捕捉核心行为及其严重程度水平，以衡量家庭粮食不安全状况。
