Black Jennifer L, Seto Darlene
Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Food, Nutrition and Health, University of British Columbia, 2205 East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Canada.
Greater Vancouver Food Bank, Vancouver, Canada.
Voluntas. 2020;31(5):853-869. doi: 10.1007/s11266-018-0039-2. Epub 2018 Oct 1.
Food banks have grown substantially in Canada since the 1980s but little is known about patterns or predictors of engagement including frequency or duration of service use. This study examined food bank program data from a large food bank organization in Vancouver, Canada, finding that between January 1992 and June 2017, at least 116,963 individuals made over 2 million food bank visits. The majority of members were engaged for a short time and came for relatively few visits, but 9% of members engaged in longer-term episodic or ongoing usage over several years, accounting for 65% of all visits. Results from cluster and regression analyses found that documented health and mobility challenges, larger household size, primary income source, and older age were predictors of higher frequency and duration of service usage. Findings add to growing critical examinations of the "emergency food system" highlighting the need for better understanding of the broader social policies influencing food bank use.
自20世纪80年代以来，加拿大的食品银行数量大幅增长，但对于包括使用频率或服务时长在内的参与模式或预测因素却知之甚少。本研究调查了加拿大温哥华一家大型食品银行组织的食品银行项目数据，发现1992年1月至2017年6月期间，至少有116,963人前往食品银行超过200万次。大多数成员参与时间较短，来访次数相对较少，但9%的成员在几年内长期断断续续或持续使用食品银行，占总访问量的65%。聚类分析和回归分析结果表明，有记录的健康和行动不便问题、家庭规模较大、主要收入来源以及年龄较大是服务使用频率和时长较高的预测因素。研究结果进一步推动了对“应急食品系统”的批判性审视，强调需要更好地理解影响食品银行使用的更广泛社会政策。
