Kyle Kellams: We’ll dive into a pair of recently completed studies concentrating on food insecurity in Arkansas. Both studies were led by researchers from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
One asked residents experiencing food insecurity to document their lives through photographs and words. The other focused on the availability of foods reflecting cultural preferences.
Bonnie Faitak is senior director of community programs at the UAMS Institute for Community Health Innovation. She co-authored both studies. The study, Daily Reality of Food Insecurity: A Photovoice Study, allowed for the gathering of information directly from participants.
Faitak: “For them to document their life experience in a visual way versus doing, say, a focus group or interview. So it really, you know, a picture is worth a thousand words. It really brings us into the daily experience of people living with food insecurity, in this case, to demonstrate what it’s like to live day to day.”
Kellams: And I imagine less intrusive.
Faitak: “Yeah. We provided them with cameras or they chose to use their phones to document what their experience accessing and using food was like. So they were able to give us the pictures they felt comfortable with, share different—really different—experiences.
“We had someone show us photos from their trip home to Mexico. What does fresh food look like there? We had someone share photos of taking food that they had received in excess and then repackaging it to share with their neighbors. So just really unique things that we don’t even know to ask about because we didn’t realize people were doing it.”
Kellams: There are four sort of central tenets in this study: community receiving and community giving, high cost of healthy foods, time cost of food assistance, and navigating resource scarcity.
How were those four developed or how did they originate?
Faitak: “So along with the photos, participants did explain them to us. And so we have a great evaluator on our team with a lot of experience in qualitative research who was able to take not only the photos, but also the reflections and commentary on them from the participants and kind of identify those main themes.
“So we didn’t provide those themes ahead of time. That’s really what we found by analyzing the photos and the feedback.”
Kellams: Time cost of food assistance—I imagine, but I may be wrong—that’s talking about just the amount of effort it can take to make sure that your household isn’t food insecure.
Faitak: “Yeah, absolutely. So I know in my life, day to day, I open up the Walmart app, place a grocery order, it arrives to my house depending on when I want it. It’s a pretty short, quick experience.
“But people living with food insecurity don’t have that accessibility. So they physically have to go to places, wait in long lines, collect the food that’s available. Sometimes they meet with someone who, you know, does intake forms and then they do this on average, in our previous studies, we’ve found, about two and a half to three times a month. So they’re going to multiple pantries, spending quite a bit of time trying to access food to just live day to day.”
Kellams: What can be done with the information—these real-life experiences, these in-real-time experiences—about food insecurity? How can that inform ways to help reduce the 18.9% food insecurity rate we have in Arkansas?
Faitak: “Well, I think the more people that are familiar with food insecurity in our state and really see what it’s like—because reading numbers, stats, even a research article—that’s a really different experience than seeing it. Seeing the long lines of cars waiting, seeing the kind of variety that may or may not exist in a traditional food pantry bag.
“I hope that it can get more people interested and invested in addressing this in our region and coming up with kind of unique solutions. We have a great community here in Northwest Arkansas that’s always willing to step up and help out. And I just think as more people move in, especially, just to continue educating them on the reality that so many people live with.”
Kellams: Second study: Process Evaluation of Culturally Preferred Pilot. Finding out that culturally preferred foods—perhaps for people who didn’t grow up in Northwest Arkansas or the Midwest or the South—aren’t readily available in grocery stores or corner stores. Tell me a little bit more, because just finding that out was not the entirety of the study.
Faitak: “Right, we really wanted to know from communities what foods they want to see when they go out to stores, food pantries, etc., to access their culturally preferred foods.
“A lot of money and time is spent—invested—in the food and charitable food system. And if our goal is to really feed people and to make sure they’re getting the foods that will nourish their families, we need to know the best food to do that.
“And so we were able to bring together some focus groups with our Marshallese and Hispanic neighbors. Those focus groups were done in language. We asked questions: What kind of food do you want to see? What is food that is most appealing to you? How is that food used once you bring it home? What food do you use during the holidays that we might not think of?
“You know, traditionally in pantries, we serve a lot of packaged things that are kind of quick and easy to make for community members. But we found a lot of our Marshallese and Hispanic neighbors really wanted those fundamental ingredients. They want fresh produce. They want cooking oil, flour, masa—food that they can build culturally appropriate meals with.”
Kellams: If you look at the study Process Evaluation of Culturally Preferred Pilot, I thought—I’m so naive—I thought I would find foods that I’ve never heard of. No. They’re apples and cinnamon and, you know, staples we think should be on shelves for all of us.
Faitak: “Yeah, I found that really interesting myself. We tend to spend a lot of time thinking about how people are different than us, and this was really an opportunity that highlighted how we have so much more in common.
“Right? Like, I like apple pie. Other cultures are creating those apples in different ways. Pumpkin is really popular among the Marshallese. They make this great rice dish with it. You know, I love pumpkin pie. So it highlighted the commonalities we all share and, as well, we hope, empowered places like food pantries to be able to identify those foods and purchase them, realizing that it’s not only for this one group of people or this one type of community, but it really crosses all the people that may be using a pantry.”
Kellams: I know this study wasn’t designed to do this, and perhaps you can’t speak to this—don’t let me put words in your mouth—but it also showed me that, well, here are some staples, some fresh produce, that it could just help a store’s bottom line. More people would like to be able to have access, whether it’s a food pantry or a store, to these foods.
Faitak: “Yeah, I agree. And I think there’s some marketing that can be done, outreach to community members just to help them see that they’re welcome, that it is thought about, their preferences are considered, and this is a great place where you can still maintain your cultural identity and practices even in the United States, in Northwest Arkansas, where you are far from home.”
Kellams: But I just want to ask about the work that you and your colleagues and partners do when developing a study—to do the science and the rigor behind it. What has to take place before you even launch a study?
Faitak: “All of our work is really based in community input. So we want to hear from the community—what do they need, what their challenges are, and what are possible solutions.
“So just like the Cultural Food Preference guide, that came out of feedback from individuals saying, ‘We’re not seeing our foods at pantries,’ and pantries saying, ‘We really want to provide culturally appropriate foods.’ And thus filling the gap there, making that connection to be able to provide—really, like you mentioned—rigorous results that can be implemented by organizations.
“So we have a really great data team, evaluation team. We have Ph.D.s, program directors, Masters of Public Health—all really dedicated to first listening to what the community wants and needs, creating best-practice, data-informed decision-making tools to gather information, and then again circling back to the community for support to implement that and gather the data to make the changes the community wants to see.”
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue.
