Just what the doctor ordered? Exploring doctors' perspectives on food insecurity and health outcomes in an urban Georgia food desert Open Access

Abstract

     Food deserts are marked by high rates of chronic diseases such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes.While several studies have explored the genetic, social, and racial factors that influence those high disease rates, there are little to no studies examining doctors’ perspectives on food insecurity and health outcomes within those areas. Understanding doctors perspectives on food insecurity, which has important social and physiological impacts, is important to developing more complete narratives of urban American food insecurity and to understanding how people’s healthcare experiences influence their health outcomes within food deserts. This study aimed to understand how doctors in an urban Georgia food desert perceive food insecurity among their patients, and how they interact with the larger healthcare and food infrastructure within that urban food desert. 20 physicians, recruited via snowball sampling, were interviewed to assess their perceptions and understandings. The results suggest that while physicians are aware of the realities of food insecurity and of food deserts, they are unable to take meaningful action to address those problems at their root cause. As such, some have developed alternative methods for helping food insecure patients cope with health issues related to food insecurity, while others are too restricted by their schedules or professional and personal demands to provide significant assistance to patients. The results also reveal the difference in the experiences of living in a food desert between doctors and their patients which manifests in the different health standards that doctors use themselves versus the ones they recommend to their patients. These findings indicate that a greater focus on nutrition and social determinants of health in medical school could help doctors connect better with their patients and be able to provide better advice on how to maintain a healthier lifestyle.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ......................................................................................................................................1

Methods...........................................................................................................................................20

Results ............................................................................................................................................25

Discussion ......................................................................................................................................45

Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................57

Appendix ..........................................................................................................................................

A. Oral Consent Script ..................................................................................................................58

B. Interview Questions..................................................................................................................59

C. Introduction Email....................................................................................................................61

References ....................................................................................................................................62

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: Distribution of Participants’ Specialties by Board Certification Designation................25

Table 2: Distribution of Participant’s Sex and Average Years Practiced......................................26

Figure 1: Percentage of participants who self reported taking a substantial course in food and/or nutrition in medical school..........................................................................................................................26

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Anthropology
Degree	B.S.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Health Sciences, Nutrition Anthropology, Medical and Forensic Anthropology, Cultural
Keyword	qualitative study Atlanta anthropology food insecurity medicine physicians interviews food desert nutrition
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Konner, Melvin J., Emory University
Committee Members	Shannon, Deric M., Emory University Hadley, Craig, Emory University

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