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Examining Patterns of Food Bank Use Over Twenty-Five Years in Vancouver, Canada Black, Jennifer L.; Seto, Darlene

Abstract

Food banks have grown substantially in Canada since the 1980s but little is known about patterns or predictors of engagement including frequency or duration of service use. This study examined food bank program data from a large food bank organization in Vancouver, Canada, finding that between January 1992 and June 2017, at least 116,963 individuals made over 2 million food bank visits. The majority of members were engaged for a short time and came for relatively few visits, but 9% of members engaged in longer-term episodic or ongoing usage over several years, accounting for 65% of all visits. Results from cluster and regression analyses found that documented health and mobility challenges, larger household size, primary income source, and older age were predictors of higher frequency and duration of service usage. Findings add to growing critical examinations of the ‘‘emergency food system’’ highlighting the need for better understanding of the broader social policies influencing food bank use.

Item Metadata

Title
Examining Patterns of Food Bank Use Over Twenty-Five Years in Vancouver, Canada
Creator
Black, Jennifer L.; Seto, Darlene
Contributor
University of British Columbia. Food, Nutrition and Health Program
Publisher
Springer
Date Issued
2018-10-01
Description
Food banks have grown substantially in Canada since the 1980s but little is known about patterns or predictors of engagement including frequency or duration of service use. This study examined food bank program data from a large food bank organization in Vancouver, Canada, finding that between January 1992 and June 2017, at least 116,963 individuals made over 2 million food bank visits. The majority of members were engaged for a short time and came for relatively few visits, but 9% of members engaged in longer-term episodic or ongoing usage over several years, accounting for 65% of all visits. Results from cluster and regression analyses found that documented health and mobility challenges, larger household size, primary income source, and older age were predictors of higher frequency and duration of service usage. Findings add to growing critical examinations of the ‘‘emergency food system’’ highlighting the need for better understanding of the broader social policies influencing food bank use.
Subject
Food banks; Emergency food system; Canada; Cluster analysis
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2022-03-08
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0407068
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/80926
Affiliation
Land and Food Systems, Faculty of; Non UBC
Citation
Black, J.L., Seto, D. Examining Patterns of Food Bank Use Over Twenty-Five Years in Vancouver, Canada. Voluntas 31, 853–869 (2020).
Publisher DOI
10.1007/s11266-018-0039-2
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty; Researcher
Copyright Holder
Authors
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Attribution 4.0 International