The impact of holiday clubs on household food insecurity-A pilot study

Health Soc Care Community. 2018 Mar;26(2):e261-e269. doi: 10.1111/hsc.12507. Epub 2017 Oct 10.

Abstract

This research investigates whether holiday clubs have the potential to reduce food insecurity among households in the United Kingdom. We survey parents (n = 38) of children attending seven different holiday clubs to estimate the percentage of children in those programmes who come from food insecure households. Results suggest that 42% (16 out of 38 respondents) of children come from households defined as "food insecure" and 24% (9 out of 38 respondents) come from households that are "food insecure with hunger." When secure and insecure households are compared, we discover that food insecure households benefit the most from holiday clubs, which suggests that they may play an important role in mitigating household food insecurity.

Keywords: food policy; food poverty; food security; holiday hunger.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Child
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Family Characteristics
  • Feeding Behavior / psychology*
  • Female
  • Food Supply*
  • Holidays / psychology*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Parents
  • Pilot Projects
  • Poverty / psychology*
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • United Kingdom