Advisor Information
Bryce Hoflund
Location
232
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Start Date
1-3-2019 10:30 AM
End Date
1-3-2019 11:45 AM
Abstract
Food insecurity exists on college campuses among college students. Prior studies have considered the prevalence of food insecurity among college students; this study aims to expand on these past studies by considering how college students experience food insecurity. The study takes a phenomenological approach to understand how students at the University of Nebraska at Omaha experience food insecurity, including the experiences and challenges students face when it comes to being food insecure and the barriers students face in addressing food insecurity. In-depth interviews with six students, ranging from undergraduate to doctoral level students, were conducted. Horizontalization, clusters of meanings, textural descriptions, and structural descriptions were used to analyze the transcripts from the interviews. Based on the analysis of the students’ experiences, trade-offs, logistics, and psychological impacts arose as three overarching themes on how student participants have experienced being food insecure. This research provides an important first step in applying a qualitative approach to understand how college students experience food insecurity. Future research is needed to continue to contribute this understanding and expand the application of other qualitative approaches, to an area that has relied on quantitative approaches to establish the prevalence of food insecurity among college students.
Food Insecurity : The Student Experience
232
Food insecurity exists on college campuses among college students. Prior studies have considered the prevalence of food insecurity among college students; this study aims to expand on these past studies by considering how college students experience food insecurity. The study takes a phenomenological approach to understand how students at the University of Nebraska at Omaha experience food insecurity, including the experiences and challenges students face when it comes to being food insecure and the barriers students face in addressing food insecurity. In-depth interviews with six students, ranging from undergraduate to doctoral level students, were conducted. Horizontalization, clusters of meanings, textural descriptions, and structural descriptions were used to analyze the transcripts from the interviews. Based on the analysis of the students’ experiences, trade-offs, logistics, and psychological impacts arose as three overarching themes on how student participants have experienced being food insecure. This research provides an important first step in applying a qualitative approach to understand how college students experience food insecurity. Future research is needed to continue to contribute this understanding and expand the application of other qualitative approaches, to an area that has relied on quantitative approaches to establish the prevalence of food insecurity among college students.