Abstract
Different contextual factors of a household and a community, such as access to resources and transportation, may influence the level of food insecurity. The objective of this study was to identify how food environmental factors and economic resources were related to food insecurity in Korean older adults residing in different contexts of rural areas. Face-to-face interviews with 248 older adults residing in land (n = 149) and mountain (n = 99) rural areas were performed. In both areas, risk of food insecurity was increased for households with limited community food accessibility measured by having difficulties in food purchasing due to food stores far from home. There were discrepancies in factors related to increased risks of food insecurity between households in land and mountain areas. The experience of reducing food expenditure resulting from burden of heating costs during the winter in households in a mountain area whereas the percent proportion of housing fee and household cook’s physical disability in households residing in the land area were found to be factors associated with increased risks of food insecurity. For households residing in mountain areas, the risk of food insecurity was decreased when economic resources measured by average monthly income for the last one year was increased and there was farming or home gardening activity. Such spatial disparity might affect household food insecurity in rural areas. In addition, food environmental factors and economic resources may affect household food insecurity differently according to the diverse contexts of rural areas. Better understanding of spatial challenges in food insecurity faced by seniors in a large rural area would help prepare programs or policy change to strengthen and improve their food environments.
Highlights
Food environment has been a significant determinant of nutrition and health status [1,2,3,4].Among food environment factors, poor access to food due to limited economic resources, transportation difficulty, and distance to a food grocery are important factors affecting food security and food consumption among older adults with mobility limitations [5,6,7,8]
Little work has been done on the spatial disparity in food insecurity for older adults who reside in different contexts of rural areas
We found a strong association between limited community food accessibility, measured by having difficulties in food purchasing due to food stores being far from home, and risk of food insecurity in both mountain and land rural areas
Summary
Food environment has been a significant determinant of nutrition and health status [1,2,3,4].Among food environment factors, poor access to food due to limited economic resources, transportation difficulty, and distance to a food grocery are important factors affecting food security and food consumption among older adults with mobility limitations [5,6,7,8]. Problems resulting from limited food access are more common in rural seniors than those in urban seniors [6,9,10]. This spatial disparity could be partially explained by differential access to community food environments, such as a greater distance from home to food stores and lack of transportation related to access in rural areas [9,11,12]. Different results between areas could be explained by geographic isolation, community resources, and household economic resources related to food expenditures, including housing status, heating and medical expenditures, and social support [5,18,19,20]
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