We had been rejected twice, had an abstract published once, and were asked to present our research poster at the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo in 2014. Now, the entirety of our research on College Student's Food Insecurity is published in the Winter edition of the Nutrition and Dietetic Educators and Preceptors newsletter.
This research started when I recognized a pattern in my fellow classmates. The joking about college kids eating ramen was actually true. Either they couldn't afford food or they had no way to get it. Meal plans are expensive and home cooked meals are few and far between.
It's the first time most of these students are living away from home, and thanks to the elimination of Home Economics classes in most schools and lack of cooking facilities in college housing, three square meals a day are almost unheard of.
I was not the first person to recognize this, or to want to quantify it. Research from other states and countries supports that food insecurity in college students is much, much higher compared to their local averages.
In our study, we found that food insecurity was significantly higher than our local average. While this original research was not published in a peer reviewed journal, our "Call to Action" was well received by the NDEP newsletter.
This piece highlighted two research tools that could help standardize future research in students' food insecurity levels - a welcome finding, as standardized research tools area always appreciated for generating quality evidence.
These findings and progress in the field would not have been possible without the help and determination of Dr. Carrie King. As my research advisor, she taught me about SPSS statistical software, proper study design, and all about publication and presentation.
Through nearly three years of grant proposal drafts, study implementation, statistical analysis, poster presentation, manuscript writing and editing, and finally article submission, Dr. King stuck by me. She sat patiently with me, meeting after meeting, proposing next steps and encouraging the research along.
At the end of it all, we have a product that I am very happy with - and something that I looked for from the very beginning: A Call to Action in Higher Education. An important cause with real, tangible research to support it. Thank you, Dr. King. I am so proud of what we accomplished!
Kate Fossman, RDN, LD
December 11, 2015
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