The Food Independence, Security and Health (FISH) Study: Phase II

Designed as a four-phase project, the Food Independence, Security, and Health (FISH) Study is a community-based research initiative to identify, prioritize, and address the critical drivers of chronic food insecurity and poor health outcomes among families accessing charitable food assistance programs in Oklahoma. This study’s second phase explores how the relationships among distinct domains of household risk, including socioeconomic deprivation, poor adult psychological health, and avoidant coping behaviors, may contribute to adult- and child-level food insecurity (Aim 1), which are associated with poor biological, cognitive, and socioemotional outcomes among children with known intergenerational consequences. This study will further develop a “Family Adversity Scale”, comprised of subscales representing distinct domains of modifiable cumulative risk, to predict adult- and child-level food insecurity (Aim 2). In collaboration with community food bank stakeholders, our analyses will then guide the development of a “Family Needs Assessment” intervention framework to improve food security among families accessing charitable food programs in Oklahoma (Aim 3) for pilot implementation and longitudinal evaluation during subsequent phases of the FISH Study. This research prioritizes the identification of modifiable household and caregiver level factors that contribute to food insecurity risk, which will equip food bank service providers and other community stakeholders with the knowledge needed to develop new comprehensive charitable food assistance programs that address the fundamental causes of household food insecurity.