Study Findings on COVID-19 Detailed by a Researcher at University of Arkansas (Food Security in the Time of COVID-19 for a Marshallese Community): Coronavirus – COVID-19

2023 FEB 23 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators publish new report on COVID-19. According to news reporting originating from Fayetteville, Arkansas, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Using an individual and family ecological systems model, we explored food security among a Marshallese cohort in Northwest Arkansas during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Our news reporters obtained a quote from the research from University of Arkansas: “We hypothesized that Marshallese households were experiencing high rates of food insecurity due to socioeconomic and systemic risk factors. Seventy-one Marshallese adults shared socioeconomic information about their household via an online survey. Descriptive results indicate that 91% of respondents report food insecurity. In terms of systemic barriers, almost half of Marshallese respondents do not have health insurance. Additionally, while most respondents report feeling calm, peaceful, and energetic, paradoxically, 81% report feeling depressed and downhearted at least some of the time. Logistic regression findings suggest that food insecurity is significantly related to education levels and household economic strain.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “These results are analogous with national findings, whereby non-native households are more likely to experience higher levels of food insecurity, lower rates of education, and higher economic strain than native households. As a collective community, the Marshallese could benefit from culturally responsive individual and family systems approaches for improving educational, social, financial, and health opportunities through workforce development, household income and asset development, and food security initiatives. Additional implications for policy, practice, and research are provided.”

For more information on this research see: Food Security in the Time of COVID-19 for a Marshallese Community. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2023,20(4). (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health - http://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph). The publisher for International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is MDPI AG.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043189.

Our news journalists report that more information may be obtained by contacting Marcia A. Shobe, IDEALS Institute, Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, United States. Additional authors for this research include Sophie Hill, Yvette Murphy-Erby, Baqir Fateh, Haixia Wang.

ORCID is an identifier for authors and includes bibliographic information. The following is ORCID information for the author of this research: Marcia A. Shobe (http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1074-855X).

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