The authors begin by identifying the enormous social problem posed by poverty in the United States and its implications on public health. According to studies conducted in the period between 2001 and 2006, there was a significant increase in the rate of national poverty, particularly in the rural areas, where it was found to be more than 14% compared to a national rate of 9%. The high levels of poverty found in rural areas were associated with poor physical and mental health, inequalities in health care, and food insecurity.
The number of US households found to be lacking adequate food to satisfy the needs of family members, due to a shortage of resources, increased from 9.8% in 2001 to 11% in 2006. Food insecurity was observed to be a bigger concern among certain households, including the minorities, single-mother families, and those whose earnings were below the national poverty line, compared to the rest of the nation. The situation was particularly worse for rural residents because of their limited access to affordable food, compared to urban consumers.
Another study conducted on poor women in Philadelphia revealed a correlation between food insecurity and depression when the researchers found that food-insecure women also felt a mental deprivation, which could be translated to a sense of hopelessness and depression. This finding was supported by another study that revealed that 28.5% of food-insecure women suffered from a form of depression compared to 20.2% of those with a slight sense of food security, and 15.75 for food-secure mothers in a sample population of 3,000 rural females. Another study revealed a high occurrence of symptoms that are characteristic of depression in 24 – 49% of rural women, especially the low-income earners.
Based on previous studies that show a strong association between food insecurity and depression, the authors sought to investigate the longitudinal relationship between the two elements using a sample of 413 low-income, rural women. The objective of the study was to establish whether the relationship between food insecurity and depression was bidirectional since such an outcome would significantly affect civic policy and practice directed towards the reduction of both elements in the susceptible communities.
The authors collected data from 23 rural counties in different states. To ensure the credibility of information collected and access to hard-to-reach populations, the respondents were sought from programs and places that work with low-income families like welfare programs, supplemental nutrition programs, and public health clinics. Measurements for food insecurity were taken using the “Core Food Security Module” (CFSM), measurements for depression were taken using the “Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale” (CES-D). The data was collected based on five sociodemographic variables namely: age, ethnicity, household income, marital status, and education.
This study accentuated the findings of previous studies on the relationship between food insecurity and depression and went a step further to prove that the two have a simultaneous causal relationship. The finding of the study was invaluable since it could result in the modification of interventions aimed at tackling the two elements, and address them on multiple levels. The authors proposed the use of interventions that ensure the systematic targeting of barriers to not only tackle high prices but also increase access to food stamps to lower the cost of access to food. At the same time, effective mental health interventions should be used to combat depression, by educating the women to de-stigmatize depression and its treatments, to encourage them to seek professional assistance. In conjunction with the education, other programs to increase access to mental health care should be introduced, including telehealth and mobile mental health services.
While the new study revealed a vital correlation to assist in shaping future interventions addressing matters of food insecurity and depression among low-income rural women, the results could not be reflected on the entire US population, due to the possibility of bias.
References
Huddleston-Casas, C., Charnigo, R., & Simmons, L. A. (2008). Food insecurity and maternal depression in rural, low-income families: A longitudinal investigation. Public Health Nutrition, 12(8), 1133–1140.