Financial Well-Being and Health-Related Quality of Life Are Associated With Transitions in Food Insecurity Status Among Recipients of Charitable Food Assistance in Atlanta, GA, and Houston, TX.

Background: The literature on the determinants of US food insecurity is extensive. Yet, the research on transitions in food insecurity among a group, especially those at risk of food insecurity-recipients of charitable food assistance-is more limited.

Objectives: This study examines changes in financial well-being and health-related quality of life as correlates of transitions in food insecurity status among recipients of charitable food assistance.

The Global Flourishing Study: Study Profile and Initial Results on Flourishing.

The Global Flourishing Study is a longitudinal panel study of over 200,000 participants in 22 geographically and culturally diverse countries, spanning all six populated continents, with nationally representative sampling and intended annual survey data collection for 5 years to assess numerous aspects of flourishing and its possible determinants. The study is intended to expand our knowledge of the distribution and determinants of flourishing around the world. Relations between a composite flourishing index and numerous demographic characteristics are reported.

Childhood predictors of suffering in adulthood across 22 countries.

Background: Evidence suggests that suffering may degrade health and well-being. However, further research is needed to identify potential targets for addressing population-level suffering.

Methods: This cross-sectional study used nationally representative data from 22 countries in Wave 1 of the Global Flourishing Study (N = 202,898) to explore associations of 13 individual characteristics and retrospectively recalled childhood factors with suffering in adulthood.

Analysis of demographic variation and childhood correlates of financial well-being across 22 countries.

Using nationally representative data from 202,898 participants in the Global Flourishing Study, this work examines factors associated with financial well-being across 22 countries. We investigate how demographic factors-including age, gender, marital status, employment status, education, religious service attendance and immigration status-are correlated with financial well-being (as assessed through four dimensions). Additionally, we analyse associations between recalled early-life conditions, such as parental marital status and childhood health, with financial well-being in adulthood.

A cross-national analysis of sociodemographic variation in suffering across 22 countries.

Background: Suffering has been identified as an important public health issue worthy of closer attention. This preregistered study takes an initial step toward developing an epidemiology of suffering by exploring the distribution of suffering in 22 countries and testing for sociodemographic disparities in suffering.

Methods: Using nationally representative data from the first wave of the Global Flourishing Study (N = 202,898), we estimated the proportion of people who endorsed some/a lot of suffering in each country.

The association between hunger-coping economic tradeoffs and food insecurity among female recipients of charitable food assistance.

Food insecurity is an indicator of well-being in the United States. A high proportion of recipients of charitable food assistance (CFA) are women and are often in charge of specific household managerial responsibilities (e.g.

Universal Free School Meals and School and Student Outcomes: A Systematic Review.

Importance: The White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health included expanding free school meals to all students, regardless of income, which has sparked debate in the United States.

Objective: To assess the association between universal free school meals (UFSMs) and school and student outcomes in the United States.

Evidence Review: An expert panel-informed protocol was developed to evaluate intervention or cohort studies comparing UFSM programs, such as the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), with non-UFSM programs in US schools from August 2012 (excluding 2020-2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) in peer-reviewed publications or government reports.

Community food insecurity predicts child maltreatment report rates across Illinois zip codes, 2011-2018.

Purpose: We examined how longitudinal changes and inter-community differences of food insecurity rates were associated with child maltreatment report (CMR) rates at the zip code level. We assessed these associations overall, by urbanicity, and within subgroups of age, sex, and maltreatment type.

Methods: We used Illinois statewide zip code-level data from 2011 to 2018.

Community Food Insecurity and Child Maltreatment Reports: County-Level Analysis of U.S. National Data From 2009 to 2018.

Current literature suggests that food insecurity increases child maltreatment risk. Yet, existing evidence is limited to individual-level associations among low-income, high-risk populations based on local, mostly urban data. This study aims to generalize prior findings to community-level associations in general populations, using national data including all urban-rural areas.

Oncology Registered Dietitian Nutritionists' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Related to Food Insecurity among Cancer Survivors: A Qualitative Study.

Background: Understanding the knowledge, attitudes, and practices pertaining to food insecurity among oncology registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) is critical to ensuring that cancer survivors have adequate nutrition-a fundamental component of successful treatment and recovery.

Objective: To qualitatively assess oncology RDNs' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding the food access needs of their patients using a qualitative semantic approach to thematic analysis.

Design: The qualitative cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2018 to January 2019.

Food Insecurity during COVID-19.

For a decade, Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap (MMG) has provided sub-state-level estimates of food insecurity for both the full population and for children. Along with being extensively used by food banks, it is widely used by state and local governments to help plan responses to food insecurity in their communities. In this paper, we describe the methods underpinning MMG, detail the approach Feeding America has used to make projections about the geography of food insecurity in 2020, and how food insecurity rates may have changed due to COVID-19 since 2018.

The Use of Charitable Food Assistance Among Low-Income Households in the United States.

Background: About 11% of US households are food insecure, and many of those households seek charitable food assistance (CFA). However, little is understood about the nutritional composition of the diets of households receiving CFA, or the relationship between CFA and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) usage among low-income households.

Objective: The aim of the study was to compare the nutritional quality of foods obtained by CFA clients to those of similar nonclients.

Maternal Food Insecurity is Positively Associated with Postpartum Mental Disorders in Ontario, Canada.

Background: Household food insecurity has been associated with pregnancy complications and poorer birth outcomes in the United States and with maternal mental disorders in the United Kingdom, but there has been little investigation of the effects of food insecurity during this life stage in Canada.

Objectives: Our objective was to examine the relationship between the food insecurity status of women during pregnancy and maternal and birth outcomes and health in infancy in Canada.

Methods: We drew on data from 1998 women in Ontario, Canada, whose food insecurity was assessed using the Household Food Security Survey Module on the Canadian Community Health Survey, cycles 2005 to 2011-2012.

Food Insecurity Is Associated With Higher Health Care Use And Costs Among Canadian Adults.

Food insecurity predicts poorer health, yet how it relates to health care use and costs in Canada remains understudied. Linking data from the Canadian Community Health Survey to hospital records and health care expenditure data, we examined the association of food insecurity with acute care hospitalization, same-day surgery, and acute care costs among Canadian adults, adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics. Compared with fully food-secure adults, marginally, moderately, and severely food-insecure adults presented 26 percent, 41 percent, and 69 percent higher odds of acute care admission and 15 percent, 15 percent, and 24 percent higher odds of having same-day surgery, respectively.

Ensuring the dignity and autonomy of SNAP recipients.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) is the most important tool used to reduce food insecurity in the U.S. Central to its success is the high participation rate among eligible recipients.

Association between household food insecurity and mortality in Canada: a population-based retrospective cohort study.

Background: Food insecurity affects 1 in 8 households in Canada, with serious health consequences. We investigated the association between household food insecurity and all-cause and cause-specific mortality.

Methods: We assessed the food insecurity status of Canadian adults using the Canadian Community Health Survey 2005-2017 and identified premature deaths among the survey respondents using the Canadian Vital Statistics Database 2005-2017.