How do disadvantaged children perceive, understand and experience household food insecurity?
Food insecurity is associated with reduced physical, social, and psychological functioning in children. There has been sparse research into child food insecurity that incorporates children’s own perspectives, as adults are often interviewed as child proxies. While a nuanced, child-centred understand...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/83766 |
| _version_ | 1848764603999191040 |
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| author | Velardo, S. Pollard, Christina Shipman, J. Booth, S. |
| author_facet | Velardo, S. Pollard, Christina Shipman, J. Booth, S. |
| author_sort | Velardo, S. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Food insecurity is associated with reduced physical, social, and psychological functioning in children. There has been sparse research into child food insecurity that incorporates children’s own perspectives, as adults are often interviewed as child proxies. While a nuanced, child-centred understanding of food insecurity is needed to inform effective policy and program responses, little is known about Australian children’s firsthand understanding or experience of household food insecurity. This study aimed to fill this gap by inviting preadolescent children’s perspectives. Eleven participants aged 10–13 years (seven girls and four boys) took part in the study and were recruited from an Australian charity school holiday camp that targets severely disadvantaged youth. Children took part in individual semi-structured interviews that incorporated drawings and emoji scales. Qualitative interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and analysed using thematic techniques. Four themes emerged from the data analysis, children had: (i) financial understanding; (ii) awareness of food insecurity and coping mechanisms; (iii) sharing, empathy, and compassion for food insecure families; and (iv) described the nature of ‘food’ preparation. This study provides a child-centric analysis, demonstrating how children’s agency is enacted and constrained in food insecure contexts. This child-derived understanding of food insecurity provides a critical basis from which to build effective approaches to assess and respond to this significant social issue. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:21:59Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-83766 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:21:59Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-837662021-06-23T03:17:36Z How do disadvantaged children perceive, understand and experience household food insecurity? Velardo, S. Pollard, Christina Shipman, J. Booth, S. child-centred children disadvantage food insecurity qualitative Food insecurity is associated with reduced physical, social, and psychological functioning in children. There has been sparse research into child food insecurity that incorporates children’s own perspectives, as adults are often interviewed as child proxies. While a nuanced, child-centred understanding of food insecurity is needed to inform effective policy and program responses, little is known about Australian children’s firsthand understanding or experience of household food insecurity. This study aimed to fill this gap by inviting preadolescent children’s perspectives. Eleven participants aged 10–13 years (seven girls and four boys) took part in the study and were recruited from an Australian charity school holiday camp that targets severely disadvantaged youth. Children took part in individual semi-structured interviews that incorporated drawings and emoji scales. Qualitative interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and analysed using thematic techniques. Four themes emerged from the data analysis, children had: (i) financial understanding; (ii) awareness of food insecurity and coping mechanisms; (iii) sharing, empathy, and compassion for food insecure families; and (iv) described the nature of ‘food’ preparation. This study provides a child-centric analysis, demonstrating how children’s agency is enacted and constrained in food insecure contexts. This child-derived understanding of food insecurity provides a critical basis from which to build effective approaches to assess and respond to this significant social issue. 2021 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/83766 10.3390/ijerph18084039 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ fulltext |
| spellingShingle | child-centred children disadvantage food insecurity qualitative Velardo, S. Pollard, Christina Shipman, J. Booth, S. How do disadvantaged children perceive, understand and experience household food insecurity? |
| title | How do disadvantaged children perceive, understand and experience household food insecurity? |
| title_full | How do disadvantaged children perceive, understand and experience household food insecurity? |
| title_fullStr | How do disadvantaged children perceive, understand and experience household food insecurity? |
| title_full_unstemmed | How do disadvantaged children perceive, understand and experience household food insecurity? |
| title_short | How do disadvantaged children perceive, understand and experience household food insecurity? |
| title_sort | how do disadvantaged children perceive, understand and experience household food insecurity? |
| topic | child-centred children disadvantage food insecurity qualitative |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/83766 |