Food Microbiology & Nutrition

Biography

Biography: Judy Walsh

Abstract

Using an explanatory case study design the author employed a community-based research method with a social justice perspective as a framework, to conduct a research project on the barriers to food security for single adults living in social housing. The objectives of the study are: (a) to examine the difference in the level of food security for housing projects located in an urban versus a rural community; (b) to examine the coping strategies that tenants employed to deal with the barriers; and (c) to examine which barriers have the greatest effect on the tenants. An explanatory matrix to illustrate the tenant identified barriers and the social structures that affect those barriers was used. Recommendations are made for integrating food security services and programs into social housing projects. The author argues that food security is a matter of public health and an integrative approach is needed. A shift on a larger policy scale is suggested, to promote the health and well-being of tenants in social housing. An adequate holistic perspective with an integrated, long-term strategy linking all the determinants of health would result in health-in-all policies. This strategy could reduce the existing health inequities that the tenants in social housing experience.