Abstract
This study was undertaken to investigate the relation between household food insecurity and mental health problems in teenage girls living in urban slums. This community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in 5 urban slums in Varanasi, India, between September 2016 and July 2017. A probability proportion to size (PPS) method was employed to select 5 of 210 urban slums at a first stage, and in the second stage, 418 teenage girls were chosen randomly from selected households. The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) and mental health inventory tools were employed to assess food insecurity and mental health status. Multivariable logistic regression analysis with at a 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to assess the association between household food insecurity and mental health status. Of 418 respondents, 47.6% were food insecure; 64.1%, 57.7%, and 58.4% had high levels of anxiety, depression, or psychological distress, respectively; and 57.2% exhibited a medium level of loss of behavioral control. Furthermore, teenage girls from food insecure households were more likely to have high levels of anxiety, depression, loss of behavioral control and psychological distress than those living in food secure households. This study shows food insecurity is independently associated with mental health problems among teenage girls. Food insecurity in Indian slums should be addressed by specific public health intervention programs that provide access to sufficient safe, nutritious food.
Highlights
MethodsThe study protocol was approved by the Ethical Committee of Banaras Hindu University, India (approval number: ECR/526.Inst/UP/2014 Dt.31.1.14)
Food insecurity (FI) is a condition in which the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or the ability to acquire such foods in socially acceptable ways is limited or uncertain [1,2].Despite substantial improvements in food production over recent decades, about 795 million peopleInt
In this community-based cross-sectional study, we investigated the association between household food insecurity and mental health status in teenage girls living in Indian urban slums
Summary
The study protocol was approved by the Ethical Committee of Banaras Hindu University, India (approval number: ECR/526.Inst/UP/2014 Dt.31.1.14). The study purpose and the procedure used for collecting information were clearly explained to each participant and they were all informed that they were free to leave the study at any time without prejudice. Written informed consent was obtained from all study participants. Privacy and confidentiality were maintained throughout and personal identifiers were removed prior to the data analysis
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