HUNGER AND FOOD INSECURITY IN THE ELDERLY - ITS NATURE AND MEASUREMENT

To better understand the nature of food insecurity in the elderly and to improve its measurement, in-depth interviews were conducted with 41 urban Black and rural White elderly in 35 households, followed by tel ephone administration of commonly used measures of food insecurity in 24 of these elderly. Elderly food insecurity appears to follow a progr ession of severity, beginning with compromised diet quality, followed by food anxiety, socially unacceptable meals, use of emergency food st rategies, and finally actual hunger. The five quantitative measures te sted were compared to each elderly person's food insecurity status bas ed on the in-depth interview. All measures had reasonable specificity, and good sensitivity for those experiencing severe food insecurity. H owever, the Cornell-Radimer, Community Childhood Hunger Identification Project (CCHIP) and Nutrition Screening Initiative (NSI) measures app eared more sensitive than the USDA food sufficiency or Urban Institute measures in correctly identifying those in the lesser stages of food insecurity.