Food Insecurity Experience: Building Empathy in Future Food and Nutrition Professionals
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Date
2016-12
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To assess changes in empathy in students completing a food insecurity experience.
DESIGN: Mixed methods; quantitative data from survey in years 1 and 2; qualitative data extracted from students' workbooks in years 2-5. This study was conducted over 10weeks annually for 5years.
SETTING: Northwest US land-grant university.
PARTICIPANTS: Students enrolled in a community nutrition course who chose to complete the food insecurity exercise. Total included 58 students in quantitative analysis in years 1 and 2 and 119 in qualitative analysis, years 2-5.
INTERVENTION(S): The intervention was a food insecurity experience in which participants spent no more than $3/d on food for 5days ($15 total) while striving for a nutritious diet and reflecting on their experience.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Empathy scores measured by Likert scales; participant responses and reflections recorded in workbook journals.
ANALYSIS: Comparison of means across time using paired t tests (P<.05); coding and sorting themes from workbook journals.
RESULTS: Quantitative findings indicated that both classroom content and experiential exercises were important for enhancing empathy about food insecurity. Empathy scores increased from time I to time II and from time I to time III. Qualitative reflections among participants included terms such as guilt, empathy, compassion, and raised consciousness about food insecurity.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Experiential and transformational learning to develop empathy can take place in a 5-day food insecurity experience during a typical university-level community nutrition course. This intervention can be tested for applications in other contexts.
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Harmon, Alison, Kara Landolfi, Carmen Byker Shanks, Leanna Hansen, Laura Iverson, and Melody Anacker. "Food Insecurity Experience: Building Empathy in Future Food and Nutrition Professionals." Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior (December 2016). https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2016.10.023.