Intimate partner violence (IPV) and food security are two leading public health issues that disproportionately impact women in the United States. Despite this connection, the relationship between IPV and food security has been relatively unexplored. While food security is a known factor in increased well-being, it is not often explicitly included in care for survivors. As part of a larger study on survivors of domestic violence who are receiving services from a domestic violence and sexual assault agency in the Southern United States, we analysed participant responses (n = 26) to various scales (i.e. depression, anxiety, PTSD, disability, well-being, hope, food security) to determine the relationships between mental health and food-related variables. Importantly, findings from our study show that survivors experience low food security at higher rates (53.8%) than the U.S. national average (11.5%). Additionally, the proportion of survivors in our sample who are receiving some form of food aid and remain food insecure is high (26.9%), leading to questions about the adequacy of food aid. Finally, our results underpin the relationship between food security and mental health for survivors, as low food security is positively correlated with depression, PTSD, disability, trouble concentrating, lack of hope and decreased well-being. These findings have implications for how we evaluate food security and the role it plays in well-being for survivors.

中文翻译：

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亲密伴侣暴力幸存者的粮食安全：了解食物在幸存者福祉中的作用

亲密伴侣暴力 (IPV) 和食品安全是两个主要的公共卫生问题，对美国女性的影响尤为严重。尽管存在这种联系，但 IPV 与粮食安全之间的关系相对来说还未得到探索。虽然粮食安全是增加福祉的一个已知因素，但它通常不会明确包含在幸存者的护理中。作为对在美国南部接受家庭暴力和性侵犯机构服务的家庭暴力幸存者进行更大规模研究的一部分，我们分析了参与者的反应 ( n = 26) 到各种尺度（即抑郁、焦虑、创伤后应激障碍、残疾、幸福、希望、食品安全）以确定心理健康与食品相关变量之间的关系。重要的是，我们的研究结果表明，幸存者经历低粮食安全的比率 (53.8%) 高于美国全国平均水平 (11.5%)。此外，在我们的样本中，接受某种形式的粮食援助但仍然粮食不安全的幸存者比例很高 (26.9%)，这导致人们对粮食援助是否充足产生疑问。最后，我们的结果证实了幸存者的粮食安全与心理健康之间的关系，因为粮食安全低下与抑郁症、创伤后应激障碍、残疾、注意力不集中、缺乏希望和幸福感下降呈正相关。