Validating the disaster food security scale for rural U.S. populations

No hay miniatura disponible

Fecha

Título de la revista

ISSN de la revista

Título del volumen

Editor

University of Colorado Boulder

Resumen

Descripción

Although there is a large body of evidence on food security and food systems, similar research is limited in disaster settings. Rural areas are especially at risk for adverse disaster consequences. The goal of this project is to validate the Disaster Food Security Scale (DFSS) for rural populations. Rural population-specific validation is needed to ensure that the scale reliably measures barriers to food security in rural populations, which may have different concerns and issues during disasters when compared to the general or non-rural populations. To validate the DFSS-Rural, the DFSS survey was administered to a national U.S. sample of households that recall a disaster in their community in the past five years. Survey data were analyzed for validity and non-rural and rural populations were compared. The disaster food security construct created through the scale development process was unidimensional allowing the administration and scoring of a single composite scale to capture multiple aspects of food security in a disaster context. The DFSS scale measures food security disruption from a systems perspective, and therefore, identifies where a disruption is occurring in the food system chain and can provide information for public health and emergency management officials, communities, and community service organizations about specific opportunities for intervention to improve food security and improve health outcomes.

Palabras clave

rural population, disasters, health, food security, rural areas, food systems

Citación