The purpose of the study proposed by the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity  was to develop new measures that assess the availability, utilization, and stability of food security, in addition to the USDA’s Household Food Security Survey Measure (HFSSM).

The study consisted of a formative phase involving an expert advisory group, literature scans, and interviews with individuals experiencing food insecurity.

From April to June 2021, the new measures were tested in five states (California, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, and Washington) in a pilot survey that included scales and items for validation, demographic questions, and the new measures, which were perceived limited availability, utilization barriers, and food insecurity stability.

Exploratory factor analysis was used to assess dimensionality, internal consistency was assessed using Kuder-Richardson formula 21 (KR21), and convergent and discriminant validity were assessed using Spearman’s correlation coefficients. A brief screener version was also created for the utilization barriers measure, which may be necessary for certain applications. The samples were racially and ethnically diverse, with most households having children, over two-thirds being food insecure, and over three-fourths being women, and were around 45 years old on average. All items loaded highly and unambiguously to a factor, with KR21 metrics ranging from 0.72 to 0.84.

Higher scores for the new measures were generally associated with increased food insecurity, except for one of the food insecurity stability scores.

Furthermore, several of the measures were associated with statistically significantly worse health and dietary outcomes. The results support the reliability and construct validity of these new measures in a largely low-income and food insecure sample of households in the United States.

The study’s findings can help inform innovative intervention approaches to address food insecurity more comprehensively in the future.

However, further testing, such as Confirmatory Factor Analysis in future samples, is necessary before these measures can be used in various applications.

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