RAPID: Effects of Responses to COVID-19 and Social Context on Food Insecurity

In this project, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on household food insecurity are investigated. Food insecurity rates in the United States have more than doubled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Food insecurity rates also vary widely across place, with state averages ranging from 14 percent to 32 percent. Researchers investigate how variations in social context and official responses to the pandemic affect families? ability to prevent or cope with food insecurity by documenting the ways the pandemic has affected how families shop for food, cook, and eat. Results have implications for how community and governmental groups can develop more responsive and equitable responses to a range of crises.

To identify the key contextual and official response variables that exacerbate or reduce place-based disparities in food insecurity, 160 semi-structured interviews are conducted and photovoice data are collected with a diverse group of poor and working-class families in four rural and four urban counties across four U.S. states. The four states have been selected to ensure variations in severity of COVID-19 outbreaks and in state responses. The data are analyzed to understand how experiences of food insecurity vary between and within states, and how variations in social context and official food directives affect whether and how people are able to buffer the impacts of food insecurity.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.