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Utah's Foremost Platform for Undergraduate Research Presentation
2022 Abstracts

Addressing Childhood Food Insecurity

Presenters: Carter Ottley ; Abiela Meek
Authors: Carter Ottley, Abiela Meek, Aubry Landsom
Faculty Advisor: Carrie Durward
Institution: Utah State University

One out of every six children face food insecurity. Without adequate access to food during development, children can face physical, social, and educational obstacles. The issue of food insecurity has become prevalent in Utah and has escalated during the pandemic. To combat this issue, a variety of community programs have been implemented throughout the state of Utah. One of these program types includes backpack programs, which provide students a bag of food over the weekend. This bag usually includes two breakfasts, two lunches, and some snack foods. This resource is especially important for students who rely on free and reduced school lunches and may not have their nutrition needs met otherwise. This research provided families the opportunity to submit feedback on the effectiveness of the program. Attached to each bag was a QR code which linked to a survey. The survey included a variety of questions crafted to address the possible outcomes associated with the program. The questions focused on parent stress levels, student academic success and student social behavior. A survey was created for both parents and students, with English and Spanish options. Another outcome of the survey was identifying which foods were most utilized. These outcomes provide evidence regarding the importance of the programs and the impact created by it. In addition, this research can be utilized by the programs to note areas that need improvement.