Students' vulnerability and perceptions of food insecurity at the university of KwaZulu-Natal.
Introduction and objective: Food insecurity (FI) is an emerging and alarming problem among university students. The problem particularly affects students from poor households. The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa is likely to be no exception to experiencing student FI as more than 50...
| Publicado en: | South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition Vol. 33; no. 4; pp. 144 - 152 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , |
| Formato: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Nov2020
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=147176459&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 147176459 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 16070658 39WI jtl: South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition issn: 16070658 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Nov2020 vid: 33 iid: 4 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania artinfo: ui: 147176459 147176459 147176459 10.1080/16070658.2019.1600249 147176459 ppf: 144 ppct: 8 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Students' vulnerability and perceptions of food insecurity at the university of KwaZulu-Natal. aug: au: Sabi, Stella Chewe Kolanisi, Unathi Siwela, Muthulisi Naidoo, Denver affil: School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa sug: subj: Student Attitudes Food Security Colleges and Universities South Africa Vulnerability Human South Africa Food Assistance Stigma Academic Performance Students, College Questionnaires Scales Food Habits Descriptive Statistics Outcomes of Education ab: Introduction and objective: Food insecurity (FI) is an emerging and alarming problem among university students. The problem particularly affects students from poor households. The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa is likely to be no exception to experiencing student FI as more than 50% of the students are poor. In 2012, UKZN implemented a Food Security Programme (FSP) to help address this emergent challenge. Until now, there is little literature exploring the prevalence and perceptions of the FI and interventions at UKZN. The study aimed to determine students' vulnerability to FI in terms of food access and meal frequencies, students' perceptions of FI and its effect on academic performance. The study also aimed to determine the students' awareness and utilisation of the FSP. Methods: A total of 500 students registered at UKZN were invited to participate using a questionnaire survey and 91.2% (n = 456) questionnaires were completed and returned. Vulnerability to FI was explored through a nine-item measure, i.e. related to the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS); and a one-item measure of the self-reported eating habits by the students 'in normal circumstances'. Results and conclusion: The findings suggest that FI remains a serious challenge among university students. Using the one-item measure, vulnerability to FI was evident in 53.1% of the students, of whom 44% experienced moderate levels of vulnerability; 9.2% were highly vulnerable. There was a significant correlation between the students' source of funding and being FI due to lack of resources (r = 0.119, p = 0.012). FI has a high potential to negatively affect students' academic outcomes. About 64.3% of the students indicated that hunger reduced their concentration and vigour such that 27.7% had missed classes. Social stigma was attached to FI; 30% of the students preferred anonymity regarding their FI status; 37.7% showed reluctance to utilise/recommend the FSP to anyone. Recommendations are made for institutional and national responses. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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