Utilization of Participatory Research Theory and a National Framework to Advance a State Food Security Research...

The 2022 White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health outlined goals for ending hunger in the US. Actions fell into five areas, called pillars; the goal of Pillar 5 was to enhance nutrition and food security research. This study leveraged participatory research theory and the National Strategy for developing a statewide, evidence-informed food security research agenda. A mixed-methods study employing the Community Engagement in Research Continuum (CEnR) was implemented. Engagement strategies included collecting baseline data via a statewide survey and encouraging participants of a statewide Summit to participate in a collective prioritization process. Surveys were emailed to a purposive sample of 1575 contacts; 31 registered for the in-person session. A total of 197 records were included in the survey analysis; all 31 registrants attended the in-person session. The research agenda was to include two objectives for implementation over the next two years. Academic and nonacademic stakeholders interacted as peers during the prioritization exercise. The first research objective was to conduct food assistance usage gap analyses; the second was to investigate barriers to collaboration among Idaho's food security programs. The CEnR proved efficacious for producing a stakeholder-generated research agenda. Leveraging a national framework helped facilitate asset-based, actionable strategies within a proposed timeline.