Li Na, Dachner Naomi, Tarasuk Valerie
Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Canada.
Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Canada.
Prev Med. 2016 Dec;93:151-158. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.10.002. Epub 2016 Oct 10.
As concerns about food insecurity in high income countries grow, there is a need to better understand the impact of social policy decisions on this problem. In Canada, provincial government actions are particularly important because food insecurity places substantial burden on provincial health care budgets. This study was undertaken to describe the socio-demographic and temporal patterning of food insecurity in British Columbia (BC) from 2005 to 2012 and determine the impact of BC's one-time increase in social assistance and introduction of the Rental Assistance Program (RAP) on food insecurity rates among target groups. Using data from the Canadian Community Health Surveys, logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify trends and assess changes in food insecurity among subgroups differentiated by main source of income and housing tenure. Models were run against overall food insecurity, moderate and severe food insecurity, and severe food insecurity to explore whether the impact of policy changes differed by severity of food insecurity. Overall food insecurity rose significantly among households in BC between 2005 and 2012. Following the increase in social assistance benefits, overall food insecurity and moderate and severe food insecurity declined among households on social assistance, but severe food insecurity remained unchanged. We could discern no effect of the RAP on any measure of food insecurity among renter households. Our findings indicate the sensitivity of food insecurity among social assistance recipients to improvements in income and highlight the importance of examining severity of food insecurity when assessing the effects of policy interventions.
随着高收入国家对粮食不安全问题的担忧日益增加，有必要更好地了解社会政策决策对这一问题的影响。在加拿大，省级政府的行动尤为重要，因为粮食不安全给省级医疗保健预算带来了沉重负担。本研究旨在描述2005年至2012年不列颠哥伦比亚省（BC省）粮食不安全的社会人口特征和时间模式，并确定BC省社会援助一次性增加以及租赁援助计划（RAP）的引入对目标群体粮食不安全率的影响。利用加拿大社区健康调查的数据，进行了逻辑回归分析，以确定趋势并评估按主要收入来源和住房保有形式划分的亚组中粮食不安全状况的变化。针对总体粮食不安全、中度和重度粮食不安全以及重度粮食不安全运行模型，以探讨政策变化的影响是否因粮食不安全的严重程度而异。2005年至2012年期间，BC省家庭的总体粮食不安全状况显著上升。社会援助福利增加后，接受社会援助的家庭中总体粮食不安全以及中度和重度粮食不安全状况有所下降，但重度粮食不安全状况保持不变。我们没有发现RAP对租户家庭的任何粮食不安全衡量指标有影响。我们的研究结果表明社会援助受助者的粮食不安全状况对收入改善很敏感，并强调在评估政策干预效果时审查粮食不安全严重程度的重要性。
