Food Insecurity in Adults with SMI in Northern England
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A mixed methods study using co-production to explore food insecurity in adults with Severe Mental Illness living in Northern England.
IRAS ID
306281
Contact name
Jo Smith
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
Research Summary:
Background to the researchIn the UK, it is estimated that 38% of people using food banks have a mental illness. Not having adequate access to healthy food, sometimes referred to as food insecurity, can lead to a range of additional health problems. Levels of food insecurity are higher in Northern England. There is a lack of research, however, on the experiences of people with Severe Mental Illness (SMI) around food insecurity.
Aim(s) of the research
We would like to understand the experiences of food insecurity for adults living with SMI in Northern England. We would also like to find out how we can support people living with SMI to access healthy, affordable food.
Design and methods used
We will work with people living with SMI, a charity, the NHS, and universities. We will employ and train two Peer Researchers (people living with SMI) to help us design an online survey and undertake interviews with people who have SMI. The interviews will ask about how services can be adapted or initiated to help people access healthy, affordable food.
Patient and public involvement
This research came from speaking to service users and they have been involved in writing this application. They told us that they would rather talk about food insecurity to someone with SMI than a researcher. Two people living with SMI will help us with the survey and interviews. Two others will be part of the steering group.
Dissemination
We will use the results to recommend the best way to support people with SMI to access enough healthy food. We will communicate and raise awareness of this research to people working in mental health services and organisations supporting people with SMI. We plan to do more research into new approaches to overcoming food insecurity for those living with SMI.
Summary of results:
What do we know already about the subject?
Food insecurity means that a person doesn’t have enough money to make sure they always have enough food to meet their dietary, nutritional, and social needs.
Food insecurity can lead to a range of additional health problems.
People living with a mental illness are more likely to experience food insecurity than people without mental illness.
What did this study involve?
We carried out a survey of 135 adults with Severe Mental Illness (Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Schizoaffective Disorder or Psychosis) living in Northern England.
We asked about their experiences of food insecurity.
Peer Researchers (who were people with Severe Mental Illness themselves) then carried out 13 individual interviews asking people about their experiences of food insecurity and how to improve this.
Researchers looked at the results and made recommendations based on these.
What the paper adds to existing knowledge?
Just over half of adults with Severe Mental Illness in this study had food insecurity (50.4%).
There were no differences in food insecurity by age, gender, mental health diagnosis or household income.
There were differences in food insecurity based on location, mental health diagnosis, and number of children in a household.
People with Severe Mental Illness told us that food insecurity is a long-standing issue. They told us about the impact of unemployment, the cost-of-living crisis and fuel poverty on food insecurity. They also described the difficulties they had using food banks such as transport, stigma, and the poor selection of food available.
What does this mean in practice?
Future research should look at actions that can be done to improve food insecurity for people with Severe Mental Illness.
Barriers to healthy food access should be looked into. This might include taking food parcels to people's homes, better quality food in food banks, and tacking the stigma surrounding food banks.
The causes of food insecurity should also be considered.REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/NE/0010
Date of REC Opinion
3 Feb 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion