(P20-083-24) How Food Insecurity Intersects With Other Material Need Insecurities

Monday, July 1, 2024

12:45 PM – 1:45 PM CT

Location: Poster Board 573

Presenting Author(s)

Audrey L. Richards (she/her/hers)

Undergraduate Student
University of South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina, United States

Co-Author(s)

SM

Sigal Maya

University of California, San Francisco, United States
Edward A. Frongillo, Jr., PhD (he/him/his)

Professor and Director of Global Health Initiative
University of South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina, United States
KJ

Kacey James

The University of Alabama at Birmingham, United States
KW

Katherine C. Wu

Johns Hopkins University, United States
JK

Jorge R. Kizer, M.D., MSc.

Professor of Medicine
Cardiology Section, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System, and Departments of Medicine, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco
San Francisco, California, United States
PT

Phyllis C. Tien, MD, MSc

University of California San Francisco
San Francisco, California, United States
MK

Mirjam-Colette Kempf

The University of Alabama at Birmingham, United States
EM

Erin D. Michos

Johns Hopkins University, United States
KP

Kartika Palar

University of California, San Francisco, United States
BT

Bulent Turan

The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Turkey
SW

Sheri D. Weiser, MD

Division of HIV, Infectious Disease and Global Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, California, United States

Disclosure(s):

Audrey L. Richards: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Objectives: Food insecurity intersects with other material-need insecurities in varied ways across individuals and across time, but how and why people experience intersections is not well understood. Our objectives were to understand how and why food insecurity intersects with other material-need insecurities such as housing, financial, and healthcare insecurities.

Methods: Forty participants were recruited from the Baltimore, San Francisco, and Birmingham sites of the MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study. Participants had one or more insecurities and had HIV and/or cardiovascular disease. Two 60–90-minute qualitative semi-structured interviews took place one year apart. Interview guides focused on experiences of food, housing, financial, and healthcare insecurities and intersections. The second interview focused on experiences of changes in and intersections among insecurities. Ethics approval was from the University of California San Francisco. Open coding was conducted in Dedoose. Axial coding was conducted by relating codes, summarizing themes, and creating memos and matrices. Trustworthiness was established through intercoder reliability, peer debriefing, member checking, and triangulation.

Results: Insecurities and their management intersected in six ways: 1) shared causes, 2) synergy, 3) one insecurity leading to another, 4) programs targeting one insecurity assisting with others, 5) management strategies affecting other insecurities, and 6) shared resource constraints. Experiencing one insecurity exacerbated other insecurities. Strong social and interpersonal ties through family, support groups, and care providers assisted participants with mitigating insecurities. These supports advocated for the participants’ well-being connected them to needed resources and provided them with a sense of certainty that their needs will be met. Participants who received holistic support addressing all their material-need insecurities reported feeling certain that their needs would be met and having good overall well-being.

Conclusions: Material-need insecurities intersect in multiple ways, exacerbating and reinforcing each other. Programs should address all insecurities simultaneously to promote optimal well-being.

Funding Sources: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute