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Using a prospective repeated measures design, we assessed changes in the food security status of 313 pregnant, first-time participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the effect of the program on specific spending patterns. Food security status was determined by using the U.S. Food Security Survey Module at entry to the WIC Program during each participant's first trimester, third trimester, and at 3 to 6 months postpartum. We collected both quantitative and qualitative data to explore possible determinants or modifiers of changes in food security status. Food insecurity characterized 112 of study participants' households at baseline and decreased by half, to 56 households, at the end of the year of WIC participation. Within the subgroup of initially food-insecure participants, analyses were conducted to explore factors related to improvements in food security status. Controlling for a number of relevant factors, we found that women who had at least a high school education and were enrolled in Medi-Cal during the postpartum period were likely to become food secure. Qualitative results revealed that participants most often used the additional food dollars made available through the WIC food package to purchase higher quality foods and items needed for their newborns and to pay bills. Overall, these data suggest that the WIC Program makes a significant contribution to reducing food insecurity among first-time program participants and suggest the need to consider food insecurity as a risk criterion for the WIC Program.
The literature on household food security in the United States has grown substantially in recent years, at least partially due to the availability since 1995 of a standardized instrument for assessing this phenomenon in the population (Hamilton et al., 1997). The food security status of participants in the Food Stamp Program (Gundersen & Oliveira, 2001; Perez-Escamilla et al., 2000), the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) (Greer & Poling, 2001), and welfare programs (Borjas, 2001; Capps, Ku, & Fix, 2002; Winship & Jencks, 2001) has been investigated. There have been only a few studies on the influence of the effect of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) on food security status. A Florida study found that participation in WIC and...