Assessing Food Insecurity in Individuals with Serious Mental Illness: A Pilot Training for Community Mental Health Providers

Abstract

Food insecurity (FI), or limited or uncertain access to food, is a significant public health issue, especially for individuals with serious mental illness. As such, mental health providers should regularly assess FI and link individuals to resources. The purpose of this project was to create and pilot test a provider training on FI assessment at a community mental health center. Fifteen providers participated in the training and completed surveys at post-training and one-month follow-up. Results suggested success in delivering an acceptable training that conveyed the importance of FI and inspired confidence in assessment. Yet, it was not sufficient to modify providers' FI assessment behavior. A brief training can effectively teach providers about FI and promote confidence in assessment; however, it is not adequate to change behavior. Future work should examine the provider training in a larger sample and wider variety of CMHC providers and explore ways to integrate FI assessment into existing practices to address implementation barriers.