Background

“Poverty and hunger are persistent problems in the United States. In 2011, 17.9 million people struggled to access, obtain, and manage food resources. This struggle is referred to as food insecurity. To combat hunger, food-insecure individuals use a number of strategies such as involuntary dietary restriction, rationing food, or choosing inexpensive food alternatives that contribute to poor nutrition, as well as consuming nonfood items. In 2011, the U.S. government spent $94.8 billion on food assistance programs. However, these programs have had marginal impact on reducing the number of people who are food insecure. Federally funded programs and local food pantries primarily focus on the provision of food without regard to habits and performance skills required to use food resources effectively. The level of food insecurity in the United States has remained unchanged since 2008, thus highlighting the need for programming alternatives. Gans et al. reported that programming that is tailored to the individual is more successful than those that have a fixed curriculum. Occupational therapists have expertise in developing individualized, occupation-based program designed to reduce food insecurity.” (Leto & Schmelzer, 2016).

Combating Older Adult Food Insecurity Through Occupational Therapy: An Online Resource is a plan designed to provide OT practitioners the necessary education to promote awareness on the issues behind the detrimental effects of food insecurity, access to evidence-based outcome measures to help identify clients who are at risk for food insecurity, frames of references that will guide a list of occupation-based interventions/functional activities tailored to a variety of client needs.