Fit for life steps: results of a community walking intervention in the rural Mississippi delta.

Background: A collaborative community--university--U.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA)/Agricultural Research Service (ARS) partnership developed and implemented a 6-month walking intervention whereby volunteer coaches were trained to lead community walking groups in a rural Mississippi Delta Community.

Children's experiences of food insecurity can assist in understanding its effect on their well-being.

An understanding of the experience of food insecurity by children is essential for better measurement and assessment of its effect on children's nutritional, physical, and mental health. Our qualitative study explored children's perceptions of household food insecurity to identify these perceptions and to use them to establish components of children's food insecurity experience. Children (n = 32; 11-16 y old) from after school programs and a middle school in low-income areas participated in individual semistructured in-depth interviews.

Food security of older children can be assessed using a standardized survey instrument.

Cognitive interviewing methods were used to adapt questions from the U.S. Food Security Survey Module for administration to children.