Liebe Rachel A, Porter Kathleen J, Adams Leah M, Hedrick Valisa E, Serrano Elena L, Cook Natalie, Misyak Sarah A
Department of Nutritional Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, United States.
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia, Christiansburg, VA, United States.
Curr Dev Nutr. 2024 Mar 21;8(4):102136. doi: 10.1016/j.cdnut.2024.102136. eCollection 2024 Apr.
Food insecurity can have lasting physical and mental health consequences. The experience of food insecurity within a household may disproportionately impact mothers because they tend to manage the household food environment.
This study sought to understand the stresses faced by United States mothers experiencing food insecurity, related coping mechanisms, and the impacts of these stressors on their mental health.
Semistructured interviews were conducted in May and June 2022 with a purposive sample of Virginia mothers who reported experiences of food insecurity. Participants were recruited from a related survey and university and community LISTSERVs. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed by trained coders. A thematic analysis was conducted to describe themes that emerged from the data. Virtual interviews were 20-60 min in duration. Mothers with children living in their household, having experienced food insecurity, and living in Virginia were eligible.
The following 3 themes emerged from the interviews with the mothers ( = 15): ) food insecurity added stress to mothers' lives in multiple ways (e.g. worry about obtaining the "right" foods and internalized or experienced stigma), ) mothers used positive and negative coping strategies to address the impacts of these stressors (e.g. use of community resources and reduced personal food intake), and ) the stressors and coping strategies had varying impacts on mothers' mental health (e.g. added to existing mental health challenges or reduced their mental capacity to make changes).
Study findings suggest that a multilevel and tailored approach to address diverse stressors is warranted. Future research should explore emotional coping strategies that comprehensively empower mothers to manage stressors, leverage resources, and reduce social stigma associated with food insecurity and accessing nutrition and mental health assistance. This may improve their household food security and mitigate the burden of stressors on their mental health because system-level solutions to food insecurity are pursued.
粮食不安全会对身心健康产生持久影响。家庭中经历粮食不安全的情况可能对母亲产生不成比例的影响，因为她们往往负责管理家庭饮食环境。
本研究旨在了解美国经历粮食不安全的母亲所面临的压力、相关应对机制以及这些压力源对其心理健康的影响。
2022年5月和6月对弗吉尼亚州有粮食不安全经历的母亲进行了半结构化访谈，采用目的抽样法。参与者从相关调查以及大学和社区邮件列表中招募。访谈由经过培训的编码员进行转录和分析。进行了主题分析以描述数据中出现的主题。虚拟访谈时长为20 - 60分钟。有孩子同住、经历过粮食不安全且居住在弗吉尼亚州的母亲符合条件。
对母亲们（n = 15）的访谈中出现了以下三个主题：（1）粮食不安全以多种方式给母亲的生活增添压力（例如担心获取“正确”的食物以及内化或经历耻辱感），（2）母亲们采用积极和消极的应对策略来应对这些压力源的影响（例如利用社区资源和减少个人食物摄入量），（3）压力源和应对策略对母亲的心理健康有不同影响（例如加剧现有的心理健康挑战或降低她们做出改变的心理能力）。
研究结果表明，有必要采取多层次且量身定制的方法来应对各种压力源。未来的研究应探索能全面增强母亲应对压力源、利用资源以及减少与粮食不安全和获取营养及心理健康援助相关的社会耻辱感的情绪应对策略。这可能会改善她们家庭的粮食安全状况，并减轻压力源对其心理健康的负担，因为正在寻求解决粮食不安全问题的系统层面的方案。
