Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T08:07:29.716Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Eating rough: food sources and acquisition practices of homeless young people in Adelaide, South Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

Sue Booth
Sue Booth*
Affiliation:
School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
*
*Corresponding author: Email sue.booth@utoronto.ca
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Objective

The aim of this study was to determine the food sources and acquisition practices used by homeless youth in Adelaide. This work is part of a larger study that aimed to examine the extent and nature of food insecurity among homeless youth.

Design

Cross-sectional design involving quantitative and qualitative methods.

Setting

Four health and welfare inner-city agencies serving homeless youth in Adelaide, South Australia.

Subjects

A sample of 150 homeless youth aged between 15 and 24 years recruited from these agencies. Fifteen were selected via snowball sampling for interview.

Results

Use of welfare food sources was high (63%). Food from welfare agencies was supplemented by unorthodox food acquisition methods such as theft (65%), begging for money for food (61%), begging for food items (44%) and asking for help from friends and relatives (34%). Reasons given for non-usage of welfare food services included affordability, access, being too busy, shame or embarrassment.

Conclusions

Food insecurity is a salient issue for some homeless youth in Adelaide. Clarifying food acquisition practices of food-insecure homeless youth is essential for rational planning and improvement of food-related services to meet their needs. Such an understanding also underpins the development of broader public policy responses that improve individual and household skills and resources to acquire food and ensure food security. Nutrition professionals, welfare professionals and policy-makers need to work sensitively with welfare food agencies and others to improve food access and food security for homeless youth.

Keywords

Homeless youthFood insecurityFood sources
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , April 2006 , pp. 212 - 218
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2006

References

1Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). SAAP National Data Collection Annual Report 2000–01 – Australia. SAAP National Data. Canberra: AIHW, 2001.Google Scholar
2Chamberlain, C, MacKenzie, D. Youth Homelessness 2001. Research Using Census Data. Melbourne: RMIT University, 2002;.Google Scholar
3Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). SAAP National Data Collection Annual Report 2000–01. South Australia Supplementary Tables. SAAP Data Collection. SAAP NDCA Report Series 6. Canberra: AIHW, 2001.Google Scholar
4Olsen, C, Holben, D. Position of the American Dietetic Association: Domestic food and nutrition security. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 2002; 102: 1840–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5Carillo, T, Gilbride, JA, Chan, MM. Soup kitchen meals: an observation and nutrient and analysis. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 1990; 90: 989–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6Darnton-Hill, I, Ash, S, Mandryk, J, Mock, P, Ho, NT. Food sources of homeless men in Sydney. Australian Journal of Nutrition and Dietetics 1990; 47: 13–9.Google Scholar
7Darmon, N, Coupel, J, Deheeger, M, Briend, A. Dietary inadequacies observed in homeless men visiting an emergency shelter in Paris. Public Health Nutrition 2001; 4: 155–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8Luder, E, Boey, E. Assessment of the nutritional status of urban homeless adults. Public Health Reports 1989; 104: 451–7.Google ScholarPubMed
9Luder, E, Ceyens-Okada, E, Koren-Roth, A, Martinez-Weber, C. Health and nutrition survey in a group of urban homeless adults. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 1990; 90: 1387–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10Parnell, W. Nutritional consequences of poverty in developed countries. Essentials of Human Nutrition. In: Mann, J, Truswell, AS, eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, 613–21.Google Scholar
11Evans, NS, Dowler, EA. Food, health and eating among single homeless and marginalised people in London. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics 1999; 12 179–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12Russell, D, Parnell, W, Wilson, NC, Faed, JM, Herbison, GP, Horwath, CC, et al. NZ Food: NZ People. Key Results of the National Nutrition Survey. Wellington: New Zealand Ministry of Health, 1999.Google Scholar
13Sullivan, A, Choi, E. Hunger and Food Insecurity in the Fifty States: 1998–2000. Waltham, MA: Center on Hunger and Poverty, Brandeis University, 08 2002.Google Scholar
14Tarasuk, V, Beaton, G. Household food insecurity and hunger among families using food banks. Canadian Journal of Public Health 1999; 90: 109–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15Rychetnik, L, Webb, K, Story, L, Katz, T. Food Security Options Paper – A Food Security Planning Framework and a Menu of Options for Policy and Practice Interventions. Sydney: NSW Centre for Public Health Nutrition, 2002.Google Scholar
16Rutishauser, I, Webb, K, Abraham, B, Allsopp, R. Evaluation of Short Dietary Questions from the 1995 National Nutrition Survey. Canberra: Department of Health and Aged Care, 2001.Google Scholar
17Cunningham, J, Sibthorpe, B, Anderson, I. Occasional Paper: Self Assessed Health Status, Indigenous Australia, 1994. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1997.Google Scholar
18Davies, L. A Survey of the Eating Habits of Youth in Northern Sydney. Sydney: Northern Sydney Health Promotion, 10 1999.Google Scholar
19Reid, G, Crofts, N, Hocking, J. Needs Analysis for Primary Health Care among the Street Drug-using Community in Footscray Melbourne. Melbourne: Centre for Harm Reduction, MacFarlane Burnet Centre for Medical Research, 2000.Google Scholar
20Antoniades, M, Tarasuk, V. A survey of food problems experienced by Toronto street youth. Canadian Journal of Public Health 1998; 89: 371–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21Dachner, N, Tarasuk, V. Homeless squeegee kids: food insecurity and daily survival. Social Science & Medicine 2002; 54: 1039–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22Hagen, J, McCarthy, B. Mean Streets – Youth Crime and Homelessness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23Greenblatt, M, Robertson, M. Lifestyles, adaptive strategies and sexual behaviours of homeless adolescents. Hospital and Community Psychiatry 1993; 44: 1177–80.Google ScholarPubMed
24Whitbeck, L, Hoyt, D. Getting by – survival strategies of runaway adolescents. In: Nowhere to Grow – Homeless and Runaway Adolescents and their Families. New York: Aldine de Gruyter,1999, 83–94.Google Scholar
25Hillier, L, Matthews, L, Dempsey, D. A Low Priority in a Hierarchy of Need: A Profile of the Sexual Health of Young Homeless People in Australia. Melbourne: Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe University, 1997.Google Scholar
26Tschirren, R, Hammet, K, Saunders, P. Sex for Favours: The ‘On the Job’ Youth Project. Adelaide: HIV/AIDS Worker Training Project, 1996.Google Scholar
27Dunbaven, A. Welcome to Brisneyland – Life for Homeless Young People in Inner Urban Brisbane Brisbane. Brisbane: Inner Urban Youth Interagency, 2001.Google Scholar
28Department of Human Services. Eat Well SA – Public Health Nutrition Action Plan (Draft). Adelaide: Department of Human Services (SA), 2002.Google Scholar
29Strategic Intergovernmental Nutrition Alliance. Eat Well Australia: An Agenda for Action for Public Health Nutrition 2000–2010. Melbourne: National Public Health Partnership, 2002.Google Scholar
30Chamberlain, C, Mackenzie, D. Understanding contemporary homelessness: issues of definition and meaning. Australian Journal of Social Issues 1992; 27: 274–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
31Willms, D, Johnson, N. Analysis and interpretation. In: Willms, D, Johnson, N, eds. Essentials in Qualitative Research: A Notebook for the Field. Hamilton, Canada: McMaster University, 1996 69–82.Google Scholar
32Richie, J, Spencer, L. Qualitative data analysis for applied policy research. In: Bryman, A, Burgess, G, eds. Analysing Qualitative Data. London: Routledge, 1994, 173–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
33Kershaw, A, Singleton, N, Meltzer, H. Survey of the Health and Well-being of Homeless People in Glasgow. Glasgow: National Statistics, 1999.Google Scholar
34Horn, M, Cooke, M. A Question of Begging – A Study of the Extent and Nature of Begging in the City of Melbourne. Melbourne: Hanover Welfare Services, 06 2001.Google Scholar
35Maslow, A. Towards a Psychology of Being. Princeton: NJ: D Van Nostrand, 1962.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
36Eckstein, E. Food, People and Nutrition. Westport, CT: AVI Publishing, 1980.Google Scholar
37Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 1998–1999 Household Expenditure Survey, Australia: Detailed Expenditure Items. Catalogue No. 6535.0 Canberra: ABS, 2000.Google Scholar
38Malmauret, L, Leblanc, J, Cuvelier, I, Verger, P. Dietary intakes and vitamin status of a sample of homeless people in Paris. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2002; 56: 313–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
39Hamelin, A-M, Habicht, J-P, Beaudry, M. Food insecurity: consequences for the household and broader social implications. Journal of Nutrition 1999; 129(Suppl.): 525S–8S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
40Olsen, C. Nutrition and, health outcomes associated with food insecurity and hunger. Journal of Nutrition 1999; 129(Suppl.) 521S–4S.CrossRefGoogle Scholar