Social-Structural Facilitators and Barriers to Social Support Provision in a Community Kitchen

Purpose:

Access to healthy food can reduce health inequities in vulnerable populations (Dahlgren & Whitehead, 2015). Social-structural conditions can be significant facilitators or barriers to food security and health for vulnerable groups (Alkon & Mares, 2012; Kneafsey et al., 2013). This presentation discusses social-structural conditions identified by participants of a local food initiative, the Family Community Kitchen, to illuminate social-structural conditions that contribute to food security and health outcomes in low-income participants.  Nurses have played a critical role in the expansion of both Canadian and United States’ community kitchens by forging partnerships with community kitchen support organizations and serving as advocates for local groups and community health needs in the institutions in which they work.  

Methods:

Case study methods were used to identify and describe social-structural conditions in the community kitchen. Data was collected throughout a three-month, longitudinal period from October 2009 to December 2009 and included: field notes, focus group audio, questionnaires, and documents.  Analysis of data followed ethnographic analysis procedures.  Organization of emergent data and further analysis was guided by a modified version of Berkman and Glass’s (2000) conceptual framework of How Social Networks Impact Health.

Results:

Ten social-structural conditions were identified by community kitchen participants including: city-wide disparities; community socio-economic conditions; project resources; and cultural conditions. Results describe themes identified. 

Conclusion:

These findings significantly enrich the literature on social-structural conditions as barriers and facilitators of food security and health in local development initiatives. Policy solutions that prioritize locally-developed initiatives in marginalized areas are needed. Deeper exploration and understanding into how social-structural conditions (under which local food security initiatives operate) facilitate or inhibit food security and health outcomes is recommended.  Examination of social-structural conditions suggests opportunities for nursing actions: primary care and population health nurses to engage community members in the identification of structural barriers to food and health inequities.

Alkon, A. H., & Mares, T. M. (2012). Food sovereignty in US food movements: radical visions and neoliberal constraints. Agriculture and Human Values, 29(3), 347-359.

Berkman, L., & Glass, T. (2000). Social integration, social networks, social support, and health. In L.F. Berkman & I. Kawachi, (Eds), Social epidemiology (pp.137-173). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Dahlgren, D., & Whitehead, M. (2015). European Strategies for tackling social inequalities in health: levelling up part 2. World Health.

Kneafsey, M., Dowler, E., Lambie-Mumford, H., Inman, A., & Collier, R. (2013). Consumers and food security: uncertain or empowered?. Journal of Rural Studies, 29, 101-112.