Food Insecurity Among Health Sciences Graduate Students at a Large Northeastern University.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of food insecurity and the factors associated with it among health sciences graduate students. METHODS: A cross-sectional web-based survey conducted in 2019 on an urban health sciences campus of a large, public northeastern university among health sciences graduate students. Food security status was assessed using the US Department of Agriculture validated 6-item short-form food security module. RESULTS: Of the 302 respondents (response rate, 8.8%), the mean age ± SD was 28.8 ± 7.30 years; 28.5% were food insecure. After adjusting for other covariates, receiving loans was independently associated with higher odds of being food insecure (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Universities may consider screening graduate students for food insecurity risk, especially those receiving student loans. Future research on this topic with graduate students and program administrators in other universities may help identify potential interventions. The impacts of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on food insecurity among graduate students merit exploration to develop context-specific interventions.