Workshop on Research Frameworks for Social Science Research on Food Insecurity and Well-Being

University Of Kentucky Research Foundation, Lexington KY

Investigators

Abstract

Anthropologists Dr. Deborah L. Crooks (University of Kentucky), Dr. Lisa C. Cliggett (University of Kentucky), and Dr. Craig A. Hadley (Emory University) will convene a three-day workshop to develop a new cross-culturally valid conceptual framework to guide future research on the relationship between food security and mental health. The World Health Organization now defines mental health as a "state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community." Working from this less medicalized perspective, the workshop will bring together researchers and technical experts to plan, strategize, and standardize (for comparison purposes) new research on the relationship between food insecurity and mental health across a range of research sites. The workshop has three overarching goals: (1) a conceptual framework and underlying model to guide future research on food insecurity and mental health that is applicable across a variety of field sites, allows for comparison of findings beyond the household and community levels, and provides research results for use by program planners and policy makers; (2) valid, reliable, and culturally appropriate instruments of data collection for the empirical assessment of food insecurity and mental health across varied ethnographic sites; and (3) a plan for centrally locating, sharing and compiling research results in a way that enables cross-cultural comparisons across various regions of the world. The workshop is important because it will lay the groundwork for a cross-culturally valid, comprehensive, and synthetic understanding of the relationship between food insecurity and mental health, which will allow policy makers to improve mitigation strategies on multiple scales. The workshop will enhance research infrastructure by bringing together experts from different backgrounds around a central research problem; and will facilitate mentoring relationships between junior and senior colleagues that are likely to go beyond the time and place of the workshop. Results will be disseminated through conference papers and journal publications.