title: Food Insecurity Experience: Building Empathy in Future Food and Nutrition Professionals.
abstract: To assess changes in empathy in students completing a food insecurity experience.
  
  
  
  Mixed methods; quantitative data from survey in years 1 and 2; qualitative data extracted from students' workbooks in years 2-5. This study was conducted over 10 weeks annually for 5 years.
  
  
  
  Northwest US land-grant university.
  
  
  
  Students enrolled in a community nutrition course who chose to complete the food insecurity exercise. Total included 58 students in quantitative analysis in years 1 and 2 and 119 in qualitative analysis, years 2-5.
  
  
  
  The intervention was a food insecurity experience in which participants spent no more than $3/d on food for 5 days ($15 total) while striving for a nutritious diet and reflecting on their experience.
  
  
  
  Empathy scores measured by Likert scales; participant responses and reflections recorded in workbook journals.
  
  
  
  Comparison of means across time using paired t tests (P < .05); coding and sorting themes from workbook journals.
  
  
  
  Quantitative findings indicated that both classroom content and experiential exercises were important for enhancing empathy about food insecurity. Empathy scores increased from time I to time II and from time I to time III. Qualitative reflections among participants included terms such as guilt, empathy, compassion, and raised consciousness about food insecurity.
  
  
  
  Experiential and transformational learning to develop empathy can take place in a 5-day food insecurity experience during a typical university-level community nutrition course. This intervention can be tested for applications in other contexts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Human Development, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT. Electronic address: harmon@montana.edu.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Harmon
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Human Development, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT.
authors.forename: Kara
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Landolfi
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Human Development, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT.
authors.forename: Carmen Byker
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Shanks
authors.affiliation: Wisconsin School of Medicine, Milwaukee, WI.
authors.forename: Leanna
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: St. James Healthcare, Butte, MT.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Iverson
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Human Development, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT.
authors.forename: Melody
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Anacker
mesh_terms: D004032:Diet / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology; D004645:Empathy; D063105:Food Assistance; D005523:Food Supply; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D052756:Nutritional Sciences / Q000193:education*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: community nutrition students; dietetics education; food assistance; food insecurity; transformational learning theory