Perceptions of Food Access by African American Women With Children in an Urban Post-Industrial North Central American City

Abstract

ObjectiveTo describe the perceptions of food access within the context of social ecological model of the nutrition environment and a womanist theory of African American women with children living in a city with limited access.Design, Setting and ParticipantsA community-based, qualitative approach was used to conduct four focus groups with 17 African American women ages 21-50 years, each with child <18 years old in the home to explore their perceptions of access in a North Central post-industrial urban city. Volunteers from community collaboratives recruited participants via snowball sampling.Outcome Measures and AnalysisTranscriptions were open coded within each focus group; then axial codes were determined and compared across the focus groups. Two coders came to consensus on recurring categories.ResultsThe two main themes were the necessity of free food from gardens, food banks and food pantries, and the impact of intersectionality wherein participants’ perceived that discrimination were experienced based on gender, race, income and/or religious practice. Access to free food was most mentioned 41 times and constituted positive experiences (21), negative experiences (13), neutral experiences (1) and gardens as a free food source (6). The impact of intersectionality was mentioned 27 times.Conclusions and ImplicationsResults demonstrate how low-income African American women in this environment obtain food. Understanding these barriers provides useful information for community organizations and other institutions that serve the community. In this environment, low-income African American women with children were keenly aware of the free community resources available and barriers to access. Their revealed experiences can be used for facilitating local food policy assistance decisions and interventions.FundingJohn Harvey Kellogg Endowment Research Funds, MSU NSF-AGEP. ObjectiveTo describe the perceptions of food access within the context of social ecological model of the nutrition environment and a womanist theory of African American women with children living in a city with limited access. To describe the perceptions of food access within the context of social ecological model of the nutrition environment and a womanist theory of African American women with children living in a city with limited access. Design, Setting and ParticipantsA community-based, qualitative approach was used to conduct four focus groups with 17 African American women ages 21-50 years, each with child <18 years old in the home to explore their perceptions of access in a North Central post-industrial urban city. Volunteers from community collaboratives recruited participants via snowball sampling. A community-based, qualitative approach was used to conduct four focus groups with 17 African American women ages 21-50 years, each with child <18 years old in the home to explore their perceptions of access in a North Central post-industrial urban city. Volunteers from community collaboratives recruited participants via snowball sampling. Outcome Measures and AnalysisTranscriptions were open coded within each focus group; then axial codes were determined and compared across the focus groups. Two coders came to consensus on recurring categories. Transcriptions were open coded within each focus group; then axial codes were determined and compared across the focus groups. Two coders came to consensus on recurring categories. ResultsThe two main themes were the necessity of free food from gardens, food banks and food pantries, and the impact of intersectionality wherein participants’ perceived that discrimination were experienced based on gender, race, income and/or religious practice. Access to free food was most mentioned 41 times and constituted positive experiences (21), negative experiences (13), neutral experiences (1) and gardens as a free food source (6). The impact of intersectionality was mentioned 27 times. The two main themes were the necessity of free food from gardens, food banks and food pantries, and the impact of intersectionality wherein participants’ perceived that discrimination were experienced based on gender, race, income and/or religious practice. Access to free food was most mentioned 41 times and constituted positive experiences (21), negative experiences (13), neutral experiences (1) and gardens as a free food source (6). The impact of intersectionality was mentioned 27 times. Conclusions and ImplicationsResults demonstrate how low-income African American women in this environment obtain food. Understanding these barriers provides useful information for community organizations and other institutions that serve the community. In this environment, low-income African American women with children were keenly aware of the free community resources available and barriers to access. Their revealed experiences can be used for facilitating local food policy assistance decisions and interventions. Results demonstrate how low-income African American women in this environment obtain food. Understanding these barriers provides useful information for community organizations and other institutions that serve the community. In this environment, low-income African American women with children were keenly aware of the free community resources available and barriers to access. Their revealed experiences can be used for facilitating local food policy assistance decisions and interventions.