Protocol for the development of a food stress index to identify households most at risk of food insecurity in Western Australia

© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Food stress, a similar concept to housing stress, occurs when a household needs to spend more than 25% of their disposable income on food. Households at risk of food stress are vulnerable to food insecurity as a result of inadequate income. A...

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Main Authors: Landrigan, T., Kerr, Deborah, Dhaliwal, S., Pollard, Christina
Format: Journal Article
Published: Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI) 2019
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/74392
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author Landrigan, T.
Kerr, Deborah
Dhaliwal, S.
Pollard, Christina
author_facet Landrigan, T.
Kerr, Deborah
Dhaliwal, S.
Pollard, Christina
author_sort Landrigan, T.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Food stress, a similar concept to housing stress, occurs when a household needs to spend more than 25% of their disposable income on food. Households at risk of food stress are vulnerable to food insecurity as a result of inadequate income. A Food Stress Index (FSI) identifies at-risk households, in a particular geographic area, using a range of variables to create a single indicator. Candidate variables were identified using a multi-dimensional framework consisting of household demographics, household income, household expenses, financial stress indicators, food security, food affordability and food availability. The candidate variables were expressed as proportions, of either persons or households, in a geographic area. Principal Component Analysis was used to determine the final variables which resulted in a final set of weighted raw scores. These scores were then scaled to produce the index scores for the Food Stress Index for Western Australia. The results were compared with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas to determine suitability. The Food Stress Index was found to be a suitable indicator of the relative risk of food stress in Western Australian households. The FSI adds specificity to indices of relative disadvantage specifically related to food insecurity and provides a useful tool for prioritising policy and other responses to this important public health issue.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-743922019-02-19T04:25:52Z Protocol for the development of a food stress index to identify households most at risk of food insecurity in Western Australia Landrigan, T. Kerr, Deborah Dhaliwal, S. Pollard, Christina © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Food stress, a similar concept to housing stress, occurs when a household needs to spend more than 25% of their disposable income on food. Households at risk of food stress are vulnerable to food insecurity as a result of inadequate income. A Food Stress Index (FSI) identifies at-risk households, in a particular geographic area, using a range of variables to create a single indicator. Candidate variables were identified using a multi-dimensional framework consisting of household demographics, household income, household expenses, financial stress indicators, food security, food affordability and food availability. The candidate variables were expressed as proportions, of either persons or households, in a geographic area. Principal Component Analysis was used to determine the final variables which resulted in a final set of weighted raw scores. These scores were then scaled to produce the index scores for the Food Stress Index for Western Australia. The results were compared with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas to determine suitability. The Food Stress Index was found to be a suitable indicator of the relative risk of food stress in Western Australian households. The FSI adds specificity to indices of relative disadvantage specifically related to food insecurity and provides a useful tool for prioritising policy and other responses to this important public health issue. 2019 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/74392 10.3390/ijerph16010079 Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI) restricted
spellingShingle Landrigan, T.
Kerr, Deborah
Dhaliwal, S.
Pollard, Christina
Protocol for the development of a food stress index to identify households most at risk of food insecurity in Western Australia
title Protocol for the development of a food stress index to identify households most at risk of food insecurity in Western Australia
title_full Protocol for the development of a food stress index to identify households most at risk of food insecurity in Western Australia
title_fullStr Protocol for the development of a food stress index to identify households most at risk of food insecurity in Western Australia
title_full_unstemmed Protocol for the development of a food stress index to identify households most at risk of food insecurity in Western Australia
title_short Protocol for the development of a food stress index to identify households most at risk of food insecurity in Western Australia
title_sort protocol for the development of a food stress index to identify households most at risk of food insecurity in western australia
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/74392