Bonsu Julia, Steele Bridget, Shastri Priya, Yakubovich Alexa R
Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Woman Abuse Council of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Womens Health (Lond). 2025 Jan-Dec;21:17455057251325986. doi: 10.1177/17455057251325986. Epub 2025 Mar 31.
Violence against women (VAW) poses a serious threat to the psychological and physical health of women. Food insecurity is both a cause and outcome of VAW, with further consequences for women's health. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated economic insecurity and, as a result, the cycle of VAW and food insecurity, demonstrating that VAW survivors have multifaceted needs when healing from situations of violence.
To explore meanings of food and experiences of food insecurity among VAW survivors accessing supportive services during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the goal of informing holistic and trauma-informed service delivery.
This analysis is based on qualitative data collected as part of the mixed-methods community-based Marginalization and COVID-19 (MARCO)-VAW study.
We applied reflexive thematic analysis to qualitative interview data from 10 survivor participants who accessed VAW services in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic and supplemented it with interview data from 18 staff participants working on those services.
We generated three themes relevant to meanings of food and experiences of food insecurity among VAW survivors: (1) power dynamics as barriers to food and achieving independence for survivors of VAW, (2) intersection between food insecurity and motherhood, and (3) reclaiming food independence and power after abusive situations.
Food security and autonomy promoted healing and provided a sense of independence for VAW survivors living in or transitioning out of both violent situations and shelters during the COVID-19 pandemic. To better support VAW survivors, organizations that support survivors need to be appropriately resourced to provide food-related programming, supports, and diverse food options, including during public health emergencies, when economic precarity and social isolation increase. Gender-transformative policy is necessary to prevent gender-based and intersectional inequities in violence and food insecurity.
针对妇女的暴力行为（VAW）对妇女的心理和身体健康构成严重威胁。粮食不安全既是VAW的一个原因，也是其结果，对妇女健康产生进一步影响。2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行加剧了经济不安全状况，结果导致VAW和粮食不安全的循环，这表明VAW幸存者在从暴力状况中恢复时有着多方面的需求。
探讨在COVID-19大流行期间获得支持性服务的VAW幸存者对食物的理解以及粮食不安全的经历，目的是为全面的、考虑到创伤因素的服务提供提供信息。
本分析基于作为基于社区的混合方法边缘化与COVID-19（MARCO）-VAW研究的一部分收集的定性数据。
我们对来自10名幸存者参与者的定性访谈数据进行了反思性主题分析，这些参与者在COVID-19大流行期间在加拿大多伦多地区获得了VAW服务，并辅以18名从事这些服务的工作人员参与者的访谈数据。
我们得出了与VAW幸存者对食物的理解以及粮食不安全经历相关的三个主题：（1）权力动态是VAW幸存者获取食物和实现独立的障碍，（2）粮食不安全与母亲身份的交叉，以及（3）在遭受虐待后重新获得食物独立和权力。
在COVID-19大流行期间，粮食安全和自主权促进了康复，并为生活在暴力状况中或正从暴力状况及庇护所中过渡出来的VAW幸存者提供了独立感。为了更好地支持VAW幸存者，支持幸存者的组织需要有适当的资源来提供与食物相关的项目、支持和多样化的食物选择，包括在公共卫生紧急情况期间，此时经济不稳定和社会隔离加剧。有必要制定性别变革政策，以防止在暴力和粮食不安全方面基于性别的和交叉性的不平等。
