Evaluation of a Trauma-Informed Nutrition Curriculum for Women With Children Living in Transitional Housing.

Objective: This study describes the implementation of a 6-week nutrition and culinary education curriculum at a transitional housing facility for single mothers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States.

Methods: Using a novel, trauma-informed approach to nutrition education, we delivered the Around the Table: Nourishing Families curriculum across three, small group cohorts (n = 15) over a period of 2 years. Lessons emphasized small group dialogue and group-directed learning on the topics of toxic stress, food as nourishment and family resilience combined with hands-on recipe preparation by the group.

Planting Seeds for Food Is Medicine: Pre-Implementation Planning Methods and Formative Evaluation Findings From a Multi-Clinic Initiative in the Midwest.

Food is medicine (FIM) initiatives are an emerging strategy for addressing nutrition-related health disparities increasingly endorsed by providers, payers, and policymakers. However, food insecurity screening protocols and oversight of medically-tailored food assistance programs are novel for many healthcare settings. Here, we describe the pre-implementation planning processes used to successfully engage federally-qualified health centers (FQHCs) across Kansas to develop new FIM initiatives.

Maternal periconception food insecurity and postpartum parenting stress and bonding outcomes.

Food insecurity during pregnancy is associated with various adverse pregnancy outcomes for the mother and infant, but less is known about the role of periconception food insecurity and its links to maternal and child wellbeing in the postpartum period. In a sample of 115 diverse (41% white) and predominately low-income mothers, results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that periconception food insecurity was positively associated with parenting stress at 2 months postpartum. A negative association between food insecurity and maternal-infant bonding at 6 months postpartum was mediated after controlling for prenatal depression, social support, and demographic factors.

Food Is Medicine for Individuals Affected by Homelessness: Findings from a Participatory Soup Kitchen Menu Redesign.

Health disparities among people experiencing homelessness are likely exacerbated by limited access to healthy, fresh, and minimally processed foods. Soup kitchens and shelters serve as essential food safety nets for preventing hunger in this population, and community interest is growing in the potential of "food is medicine" interventions to improve the mental and physical wellbeing of people who receive meals from these providers. This study describes our two-phase approach to first identify and prioritize nutrition needs within an urban soup kitchen community and then test and implement new recipes and menu guidelines to help the standard soup kitchen menu better align with those priorities.

Unpacking determinants and consequences of food insecurity for insulin resistance among people living with HIV: Conceptual framework and protocol for the NOURISH-OK study.

Background: Over the past four decades, advances in HIV treatment have contributed to a longer life expectancy for people living with HIV (PLWH). With these gains, the prevention and management of chronic co-morbidities, such as diabetes, are now central medical care goals for this population. In the United States, food insecurity disproportionately impacts PLWH and may play a role in the development of insulin resistance through direct and indirect pathways.

Methods for Assessing Willingness to Try and Vegetable Consumption among Children in Indigenous Early Childcare Settings: The FRESH Study.

Food preferences begin in early childhood, and a child's willingness to try (WTT) new vegetables is an important determinant of vegetable intake. Young children living in rural communities are at increased risk for food insecurity, which may limit exposure to and consumption opportunities for vegetables. This manuscript describes the validation of the Farfan-Ramirez WTT (FR-WTT) measure using baseline data from the FRESH study, a gardening intervention for Native American families with preschool-aged children in Osage Nation, Oklahoma.

Beyond Groceries: An Analysis of Referral Needs to Address Underlying Causes of Child Hunger among Households Accessing Food Pantries.

Very low food security among children (VLFS-C), often referred to as child hunger, can profoundly hinder child development, family well-being, and community health. Food pantries are important community resources that routinely serve at-risk families. This study investigated the influence of various candidate risk factors for VLFS-C within a food pantry population to inform the development of the "Pantry Assessment Tool against Child Hunger (PATCH).

Promoting nutrition equity for individuals with physical challenges: A systematic review of barriers and facilitators to healthy eating.

Impaired mobility is the most common form of functional disability in the US, affecting one out of every sixteen working-age adults. Little is known about the barriers to and facilitators of healthy eating among people with impaired mobility (PWIM), who are at increased risk for diet-related chronic disease. The pathways by which impaired mobility influence dietary intake are unclear, yet likely involve a complex interplay between structural determinants of health and individual factors.

Challenges and opportunities to increasing fruit and vegetable distribution through the US charitable feeding network: increasing food systems recovery of edible fresh produce to build healthy food access.

This qualitative study describes opportunities and challenges to produce recovery identified by food banking executive leadership across the US ( = 33). Identified challenges included regional variation in fresh produce availability, long transportation times, and lack of refrigerated storage. Opportunities included high client demand for fresh produce, internal benchmarks for fresh produce distribution, and organizational partnerships to create regional sourcing and distribution efficiencies.

Characteristics of Households of People With Diabetes Accessing US Food Pantries: Implications for Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the associations between food insecurity (FI) and coping strategies of relevance to diabetes self-management among households of people with diabetes (HHDM) who access US food pantry programs.

Methods: The authors conducted a secondary data analysis of HHDM accessing US food pantry programs from the Hunger in America 2014 study ( = 16 826). Weighted analyses included descriptive statistics for household sociodemographics, food pantry service utilization, FI, and coping behaviors.

Using Structural Equation Modeling to Examine the Influence of Social, Behavioral, and Nutritional Variables on Health Outcomes Based on NHANES Data: Addressing Complex Design, Nonnormally Distributed Variables, and Missing Information.

Background: Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a multivariate analysis method for exploring relations between latent constructs and measured variables. As a theory-guided approach, SEM estimates directional pathways in complex models based on longitudinal or cross-sectional data where randomized control trials would either be unethical or cost prohibitive. However, this method is infrequently used in nutrition research, despite recommendations by epidemiologists for its increased use.

Development and Evaluation of a Nutrition-Centered Lifestyle Medicine Curriculum for Physician Assistant Students.

Background: US medical schools are increasingly integrating lifestyle medicine competencies into their academic programs. Yet, physician assistant (PA) academic programs have been slower to respond.

Methods: We developed, implemented, and evaluated a nutrition-centered lifestyle medicine curriculum for 2nd-year PA students ( = 24).

A Nutrition Environment Measure to Assess Tribal Convenience Stores: The THRIVE Study.

In rural American Indian (AI) communities, where supermarkets are rare, tribally owned and operated convenience stores are an important food source. Food environment measures for these settings are needed to understand and address the significant diet-related disparities among AIs. Through a tribal-university partnership that included tribal health and commerce representatives from two Native Nations in rural southeastern Oklahoma, we developed the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey for Tribal Convenience Stores (NEMS-TCS) to inform the development and evaluation of a healthy food retail intervention.

Food choice considerations among American Indians living in rural Oklahoma: The THRIVE study.

In rural American Indian (AI) communities, access to affordable, healthy foods is often limited. Understanding AI food choice considerations when selecting foods, such as sensory appeal, cost, or health, is an important yet understudied topic for eliminating persistent AI health disparities. In partnership with the Chickasaw Nation and Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, we administered a modified version of the Food Choice Values (FCV) Questionnaire to a cross-sectional sample of 83 AI patrons shopping at tribally-owned convenience stores ≥3 times per week.

A psychometric evaluation of the Harvey Imposter Phenomenon Scale.

In this article, we present psychometric properties on the 14-item Harvey Imposter Phenomenon (IP) Scale (Harvey, 1981) among a sample of U.S. adolescents (N = 136).