Reported Self-Efficacy Among Participants Of Nutrition Services At A Local Food Bank And Resource Center In Rural North Carolina

This research explored a community-academic partnership and the feasibility of designing and implementing initiatives aimed to increase nutrition-related self-efficacy and ultimately food security among food-pantry clients in rural Appalachia. The study utilized a three-step, mixed-methods design for the purpose of identifying the client’s self-assessed level of self-efficacy and food security, as well as to measure their involvement in a local food bank’s nutrition-related programs. Of the 50 study participants, 39 were low to very low food security and 38% had been receiving food resources from the food bank for more than 2 years. Self-efficacy items based on clients' ability to plan ahead averaged a low self-efficacy score while those items based on client’s ability to make decisions in the moment averaged a high self-efficacy score. With these findings, it’s apparent that there is a need for nutrition-related interventions to focus on the importance of planning for the future. Clients with lower self-efficacy and food security ratings reported greater participation in nutrition services offered by the food bank, suggesting that services are reaching the population in most need. These findings call for future initiatives aimed at increasing the self-efficacy with measures of longer term efficacy and sustainability in improving food security