Interviews Overview
Research Questions
1) Do students that are identified as food insecure using a screening tool, label themselves as food insecure? Do students who are not identified as food insecure using a screening tool still consider themselves as food insecure?
2) What are TWU students' comfort level in accessing food assistance?
3) How are TWU students affected by stigma pertaining to food insecurity and food assistance?
4) What kinds of food preparation, supplies, and skills do TWU students seeking food assistance have or would like to have?
Methods
In-person and virtual interviews were conducted with Minerva’s Market users to better understand food insecurity experiences and any associated stigma that is affecting TWU students. Interviews took place from April 2023 to July of 2023. Each interview was recorded using an audio recording device or the audio recording feature on Zoom and the researcher took field notes. After each interview the researcher listened to recordings and analyzed their notes to find recurring themes, sub-themes, and quotes to use for their qualitative data.
Results
Major themes from the interviews included lack of cooking knowledge, unstable finances, creation of a negative mental and emotional state, decreased academic performance, lack of concentration, and feelings of fear and shame.
Participants expressed wanting quick, easy, and tasty meals as well as basic cooking guides or videos and written recipes.
Themes and Quotes From Interviews
Lack of Knowledge
· “Inexperience in cooking and budgeting causes students to not know what to buy for them to make something so they opt for expensive prepared meals or dining out.”
· “People don’t know what to do with fresh food and they do not understand the services available to them. They think they do not qualify.”
Unstable Finances
· “I can’t afford dining dollars.”; “The lowest costing meal plan is not enough so you have to choose certain days a week to go hungry.”
·“The amount I am making with the job I have is not enough for school, rent and food.”; “Minimum wage is not enough”
Negative Mental/Emotional State
· “It makes you super self-conscious. They just think they are failing at being a grown up.”
· “The absolute shame you feel can make it hard to ask for help. It's so isolating”
Decreases Academic Performance/ Causes a Lack of Concentration
· “My grades suffered in the Fall semester because I had to keep going to the Market to sustain me and my family.”
· “Hunger makes it harder to focus on class and be motivated. It changes a person’s behavior. It’s hard to do homework when I am hungry.”
· “It’s always nagging in the back of my mind: Am I going to have dinner tonight? Am I going to have lunch tomorrow?”
· “There are times when I am so hungry, I can’t sleep.”; “I would have to go hungry for a few days.”
Scared of Being Identified as Food Insecure
· “I just want people to think I am fine, and then I will go deal with it.”
· “I know I need the food, but I worry about people watching. Stigma puts a seed of insecurity in yourself.”
What does Stigma mean?
· “You are being looked down on, people feel sorry for you. Stigma is the fear of the unknown.”
· “It boxes a group of people in that are disadvantaged, it labels them. I think of words like abnormal, marginalized, and outcast.”
Stigma Hinders People From Asking for Help
· “You’re trying to make friends and you do not want to be seen going to the food bank or labeled as not having money.”
· “People have a level of pride and dignity they hold onto. We always want to show people that we are doing well.”
· “You make up things and lie to not be seen or feel like you are broke or poor.”