Abstract
To investigate the impact of food skills on food security and dietary diversity among asylum seekers living in Norwegian reception centers. Cross-sectional study. Eight asylum reception centers. A total of 205 asylum seekers (131 men and 74 women) recruited through convenience sampling. Food skills were measured using questions from the Canadian Rapid Response on Food Skills and divided into cooking skills and shopping skills. Food security was measured with the 10-item version of the Radimer/Cornell Scale. The dietary diversity score was based on a 24-h recall. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression. Cooking skills were associated with adequate dietary diversity (adjusted odds ratio, 2.12; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-4.31), but not with adult food insecurity (adjusted odds ratio. 0.63; 95% confidence interval, 0.26-1.53). Shopping skills were not associated with either measure of dietary diversity or adult food insecurity. Women had higher cooking skills than men, but there were no gender differences in shopping skills. Food skills had a limited association with food security and dietary diversity. Further research is needed to identify food skills beneficial for asylum seekers and to address the multiple causes of food insecurity.
Highlights
Nutrition-related capacity is increasingly recognized as an important component of food security, and there is a growing number of nutrition interventions promoting food skills among low-income populations.[10−14] Food skills have been defined as the knowledge enabling the selection and preparation of nutritionally balanced, age-appropriate, and satisfying meals with available resources.[15−18] food skills include several components related to the capability of cooking, health concerns, and food safety as well as the capability of planning, budgeting, and reading labels.[16,18]
There is evidence that increased food skills can contribute to better diets, there are indications that food skills are unlikely to ameliorate food insecurity on their own, among groups suffering severe financial deprivation, isolation, and lack of accessibility to food.[10,13,19,20−22] In Norway, a recent study has indicated that a high proportion of asylum seekers living in asylum reception centers are food insecure.[4,23]
Given the growing importance of nutrition education interventions to promote adequate diets among asylum seekers, this study aims to investigate the potential impact of food skills on food security and dietary diversity.[12,25,26]
Summary
TagedPFood insecurity among asylum seekers and newly resettled refugees living in Western countries has been documented by several studies.[1−4] Food insecurity refers to the condition in which people have limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable manners.[5]TagedPPrevious studies have shown that food insecurity is often not solely the result of financial constraints but of several interwoven factors related to entitlements, access to food, and the capability to prepare nutritious meals.[6,7] In his studies on food security, Amartya Sen introduced the concept of food capacity, meaningNutrition-related capacity is increasingly recognized as an important component of food security, and there is a growing number of nutrition interventions promoting food skills among low-income populations.[10−14] Food skills have been defined as the knowledge enabling the selection and preparation of nutritionally balanced, age-appropriate, and satisfying meals with available resources.[15−18] food skills include several components related to the capability of cooking, health concerns, and food safety as well as the capability of planning, budgeting, and reading labels.[16,18]Studies evaluating the impact of food skills on food security have provided contrasting results. TagedPPrevious studies have shown that food insecurity is often not solely the result of financial constraints but of several interwoven factors related to entitlements, access to food, and the capability to prepare nutritious meals.[6,7] In his studies on food security, Amartya Sen introduced the concept of food capacity, meaning. In Norway, a recent study has indicated that a high proportion of asylum seekers living in asylum reception centers are food insecure.[4,23] The tight budget asylum seekers receive from public authorities while waiting for their applications to be processed has emerged as the main cause of food insecurity and poor diet.[4] Qualitative interviews provided indications that the capability of cooking meals could contribute to food insecurity and poor diets.[23,24]
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