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Food insecurity in Dutch disadvantaged neighbourhoods: a socio-ecological approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2022

Jolien M. M. Janssen
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health and Primary Care/Health Campus The Hague, Leiden University Medical Centre, The Hague, The Netherlands
Laura A. van der Velde
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health and Primary Care/Health Campus The Hague, Leiden University Medical Centre, The Hague, The Netherlands
Jessica C. Kiefte-de Jong*
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health and Primary Care/Health Campus The Hague, Leiden University Medical Centre, The Hague, The Netherlands
*
*Corresponding author: Jessica C. Kiefte-de Jong, fax +31-(0)71-526 8259, email j.c.kiefte@lumc.nl

Abstract

Food insecurity is an important public health concern; however, research into this phenomenon within the Netherlands is limited. Food insecurity is not solely related to individual factors, but can also be influenced by various factors in the social and physical environment. Therefore, this study aimed to identify determinants of food insecurity within the personal, social and physical environment, based on the social ecological model (SEM), and to identify their relative importance for experiencing food insecurity. The study population consisted of 307 participants living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods of the Dutch city The Hague, of which approximately one-quarter were food insecure. Participant characteristics showing bivariate associations P < 0⋅20 were placed in a predetermined level of the SEM, after which a multivariate logistic regression was performed for each level and the Nagelkerke pseudo R2 was presented. Determinants of food insecurity were BMI, gross monthly income, highest educational attainment, smoking status, diet quality, employment status, marital status and religion (P < 0⋅05). The results showed that 29⋅7 % of the total variance in food insecurity status was explained by all included determinants together. The personal, social and physical environment explained 20⋅6, 14⋅0 and 2⋅4 % of the total variance, respectively. Our findings suggest that determinants within the personal environment are most important for explaining differences in experienced food insecurity. The present study contributes to furthering the knowledge about the relative importance of the personal, social and physical environment, indicating that determinants within the personal environment may be most promising for developing targeted interventions to reduce food insecurity.

Information

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society
Figure 0

Fig. 1. Characteristics of participants that potentially influence the food security status using the social ecological model.

Figure 1

Table 1. Participant characteristics stratified by food security status (N 307)

Figure 2

Table 2. Logistic regression analysis of the associations between food insecurity status and participant characteristics within the specific layers of the social ecological model (N = 307)

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