Factors Related to Food Insecurity in the University of Dayton Student Population

In recent years, university campuses have found high rates of food insecurity. Food insecurity is associated with negative health and academic outcomes. Identifying contributing and mediating factors can inform appropriate intervention development. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore factors associated with food insecurity and examine skill, stress and time related to meal planning, grocery shopping, food preparation, and budgeting in undergraduate university students at the University of Dayton. Methodology: First, semi-structured interviews with 23 undergraduate students were administered to explore food insecurity at the University of Dayton. Using grounded theory, the interviews were analyzed by two trained researchers and main categories and themes identified. The qualitative data informed the development of a short questionnaire examining student perception of skill, time and stress in meal planning, grocery shopping, food preparation, and budgeting. The developed questionnaire and the USDA short 6-item food security questionnaire were sent to students’ university email accounts. One-way Analysis of Variance and Bonferroni post-hoc tests were employed to examine the differences in skill, time and stress across the three food security groups (food secure, low food security and very low food security). Results: The core categories identified in the semi-structured interviews relating to food insecurity included the on- and off-campus food environments, the informal social student network and food-related skills. In regards to the food insecurity and skill, time and stress questionnaires. of the 270 undergraduate students who completed the questionnaires, 26.4% identified as low food secure and 15.5% as very low food secure. Further, there was a significant difference between groups in terms of skill, time and stress (p For skill, food secure students had a significantly higher score compared to the low food secure group. The low and very low food secure groups had significantly higher stress and less perceived time compared to the food secure group (

Meeting Community and Student Needs Through a Sports Nutrition and Wellness Club

Sports nutrition is a specialized field in dietetics and is an interest of many dietetic majors. Therefore, a Sports Nutrition and Wellness Club was created in 2018 to provide experiential learning for dietetic majors that have expressed interest in sports nutrition and address a need expressed from the University and local communities. Upon initiation into the club using the “train the trainer” model, dietetic students are mentored and trained in nutrition assessment, evaluation, intervention and counseling of clients. The two tasks of the club are to provide individual nutrition counseling sessions and athlete cooking and sports nutrition education classes. The individual counseling sessions include clients from the University Wellness Program and Recreation Sport. Along with mentoring from a registered and licensed dietitian nutritionist (RDN LD), dietetic majors work in pairs to complete full nutrition assessments using the Nutrition Care Process and the Nutrition Data Set for Research (NDSR) nutrient analysis program. During the cooking and education sessions, the club collaborates with University athletic teams to provide evidenced based sports nutrition information relevant to their sport coupled with hands-on cooking skills that reinforce the education. All sessions are reviewed and attended by a registered and licensed dietitian nutritionist (RDN LD). The Sports Nutrition and Wellness Club has grown from eight dietetic majors to approximately 22 in a 18 month time span. Currently, data is being collected to measure impact of the two tasks and how the Sports Nutrition and Wellness Club strengthens the dietetic majors’ sports nutrition knowledge and counseling skills