Table 2 Summary of published/unpublished work on experiential household food security scales, India, 2000–2015
ID | Authors | Setting | Period of study | Sample size | Study population | Respondent | Language | Type of scale | Recall period | Internal reliability/validity | Food security status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nord et al. [11]a | Rural Orissa | 2000–2001 | 282 | All adults and children in the household | – | Oriya | 9-item scale adapted from 18-item US HFSSMb | 30 days | In-fit: 0.75–1.11 High out-fit: balanced meal, ate less and cut-skip meal | Food secure: 8.0% Food insecure: 92.0% (with 57.0% food insecure with hunger) |
2 | MSF [23] | Chittagong Hill Tracts Sajek Union bordering Bangladesh and Mizoram, India | March–April 2008 | 151 households from 34 villages | Children aged 1–5 years | Adult females/males in the household. | Bengali | 9-item FANTA HFIAS version 3 | 30 days | – | Food secure: 4.0% Mildly food insecure: 4.6% Moderately food insecure: 11.9% Severely food insecure: 79.5% |
3 | Agarwal et al. [21] | Slum in north-east Delhi | June–July 2008 | 410 | All adults in household | Adult female involved in cooking/purchasing food | Hindi | 4-item scale adapted from 6-item shorter version of US HFSSMc | 12 months | Cronbach’s α: 0.8 In-fit: 0.77–1.07 High out-fit: cut meal/skip meal | Food secure: 9.0% Food insecure: 51% (with 27.1% food insecure without hunger and 23.9% food insecure with hunger) |
4 | Agarwal et al. [22] | 75 slums of Meerut city | October 2007–March 2008 | 40,016 | Women of reproductive age (WRA) | Adult female | Hindi | 4-item scale adapted from 6-item shorter version of US HFSSMd | 12 months | Point bi-serial correlation: 0.43–0.59 Cronbach’s α: 0.725 In-fit - 0.52–1.11 High out-fit: nutritious food | Food insecure: 74.2% (with 31.5% food insecure without hunger and 42.7% with hunger) |
5 | Pasricha et al. [24] | Rural Karnataka | – | 415 | Children aged 12–23 months | Mothers of children | Kannada | 9-item FANTA HFIAS version 3 | 30 days | Food secure: 42.0% Food insecure: 58.0% | |
6 | Gopichandran et al. [14] | Tamil Nadu, Vellore (urban) | May/June 2009 | 130 | All adults and children in household | Head of household/housewife | Tamil | 18-item USHFSSM | 12 months | – | Food secure: 25.4% Food insecure with hunger: 61.5% Food insecure without hunger: 13.1% |
7 | Mukhopadhyay et al. [18] | Bankura-1 CD block district, West Bengal | July–August 2009 | 267 tribal households | All adults in household | Head of household/responsible adult family member, preferably a woman | Bengali | A validated Bengali version of the US 6-item short form food security scale | 12 months | κ: > 0.84 Cronbach’s α: 0.82 | 47.2% households had high or marginal food security, whereas 29.6% and 23.2% had low and very low food security, respectively The prevalence of low and very low food security was higher among households having children aged under-five (31.2 and 24.3%, respectively) compared to households without children under-five (24.6 and 20.0%, respectively) |
8 | Mukhopadhyay and Biswas [19] | Bankura-1 CD block district, West Bengal | July–August 2009 | 188 tribal households | Tribal children aged 24–59 months | Mothers of the children | Bengali | A validated Bengali version of the 6-item shorter version of US HFSSM | 12 months | Same as above | High/marginal food security: 46.8% Low food security: 28.7% Very low food security: 26.5% |
9 | Chatterjee et al. [25] | Three slums in north-west Mumbai | January–March 2010 | 283 | All adult members | Adult female | Marathi | 9-item FANTA HFIAS | 30 days | – | Food secure: 23.7% Severely food insecure: 59.7% Mild to moderate food insecure: 16.6% |
10 | Chinnakali et al. [26] | A resettlement colony in south Delhi | 250 | All adult members | Females aged 18–50 years | Hindi | 9-item FANTA HFIAS | 30 days | – | Food insecure: 77.2% (with 49.2% households being mildly food insecure, 18.8% households moderately food insecure and 9.2% households severely food insecure) | |
11 | Maitra [30] | 15 slums in Kolkata Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) area | April 2010–January 2011 | 500 | All adults and children | Head of household/adult female in charge of kitchen | Bengali | 9-item adult scale and 5-item child scale adapted from 18-item US HFSSMe | 30 days | 9-item adult scale Cronbach’s α: 0.85 Rasch reliability: 0.75 Sensitivity: 0.83 Specificity: 0.97 Positive predictive value: 0.85 In-fit: 0.7–1.3 High out-fit: never cooked rich meal 5-item child scale Rasch reliability: 0.94 Sensitivity: 0.87 Specificity: 0.97 Positive predictive value: 0.89 In-fit: 0.63–1.25 High out-fit: child could not eat three square meals | 9-item adult ‘ever’ scale Food insecure: 15.4% (with 12.8% moderately food insecure and 2.6% severely food insecure) Food secure: 84.6% (with 76.2% highly food secure and 8.4% marginally food secure) 5-item child scale Food insecure: 20.4% households Highly food secure: 70.7% households (with 7.9% households having children who were marginally food secure) |
12 | UHRC [15] | Slum in north-east Delhi | June–July 2011 | 232 | Children aged below 5 years | Adult female aged ≥18 years involved in cooking and purchasing food | Hindi | 8-item child food security scale based on US HFSSM | 30 days | Households where children are food secure: 0.4% Marginally food secure: 8.6% Food insecure without hunger: 27.6% Food insecure with hunger: 63.4% | |
13 | Gupta et al. [16] | Four Delhi slums | August 2011–October 2012 | 446 | WRA (15–45 years) with children (6–35 months) | Mothers involved in cooking and purchasing food | Hindi | 8-item child scale based on 18-item USHFSSM | 12 months | Food secure: range 45.0–81.0% Low food insecurity: range 18.0–49.0% Very low food insecurity: range 1.0–15.0% | |
14 | Gupta et al. [17] | Four Delhi slums | 2012 | 446 | WRA (15–45 years) with children (6–36 months) | Mothers involved in cooking and purchasing food | Hindi | 8-item child scale based on 18-item USHFSSM | 12 months | Food insecure: 38.1% of children | |
15 | Nord and Cafiero [29] | Rural/urban India | 2012 Gallup World Poll Survey | 2540 | Adult men and women aged 15+ years, children aged <15 years | Randomized adult (aged 15 +) in household | Multiple. Hindi (n = 1480), Marathi (n = 280), Bengali (n = 230), Telegu (n = 210), smaller numbers of Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Oriya, Punjabi and Assamese | FIESf 8 adult items 7 child items | 12 months | Adult scale In-fits: 0.7–1.3 except item ‘ran out’ (1.38) Rasch reliability: 0.72 Child scale (6 items) In-fits: acceptable range 0.7–1.3 Combined adult–child scale In-fits: acceptable range 0.7–1.3 | Not available |
16 | IIPS-UNICEF [28] | Maharashtra state —aggregate/rural/urban | February–April 2012 | 2630 | Household with children below 2 years of age | Household member, primarily involved in the food preparation | Marathi/English | FANTA 9-item HFIAS | 30 days | Maharashtra basic dichotomous (yes/no) scale Cronbach’s α: 0.91 Rasch reliability: 0.818 In-fits: 0.62–1.29 High out-fits: worried (4.50), preferred food (5.99), hungry (7.04) and whole day (11.54) Maharashtra polytomous scale Rasch reliability: 0.807 In-fits: 0.77–1.45 In-fit for worried is high High out-fit: worried, hungry and whole day | Food secure: 57.0% Mildly food secure: 17.0% Moderately food secure: 13.0% Severely food insecure: 14.0% |
17 | Wright and Gupta [20] | A slum from north-east Delhi | 2010 | 105 | Convenience sample of members in families receiving care at health centres and clinics | WRA (18–45 years) who were responsible for food procurement | Hindi | 6-item shorter version of US HFSSM | 12 months | Food insecure: 57.0% | |
18 | Nord and Cafiero [29] | Rural/urban India | 2014 Gallup World Poll Survey | 3000 (nationally representative sample) | Men and women aged 15+ years | Randomized adult (aged 15+ years) in household | Multiple. Hindi (n = 1480), Marathi (n = 280), Bengali (n = 230), Telegu (n = 210), smaller numbers of Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Oriya, Punjabi and Assamese | Extended FIES 8 adult items (plus 2 child items if child aged under-five lived in the household)g | 12 months | In-fit: 0.7–1.3 for 8 items and excellent for 7 (0.8–1.2) Rasch reliability: 0.72 Extended FIES (hungry and whole day trichotomous) All Rasch-Thurstone in-fit statistics were in an excellent range 0.8–1.2 Overall item in-fit statistics good for all 8 items (0.7–1.3) Rasch reliability: 0.82 | Not yet released |
19 | IFPRI [27] | Odisha | 2015 | – | – | – | – | 9-item FANTA HFIAS | 30 days | In-fits: 0.92–1.36 (high in-fit—preferred food) High out-fit: preferred food | Not available |