Family Food Environment during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study
Department of Child and Family Science, California State University, Fresno, CA 93740, USA
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Academic Editor: Eric Dearing
Children 2021, 8(5), 354; https://doi.org/10.3390/children8050354
Received: 6 April 2021
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Revised: 24 April 2021
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Accepted: 26 April 2021
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Published: 29 April 2021
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic, with its cyclical lockdown restrictions and school closures, has influenced family life. The home, work, and school environments have collided and merged to form a new normal for many families. This merging extends into the family food environment, and little is known about how families are currently navigating this landscape. The objective of the present study was to describe families’ adaptations in the family food environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Parents participated in one of 14 virtual focus groups (conducted in English and Spanish between December 2020 and February 2021). Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze the transcripts. Results: Forty-eight parents (81% Hispanic and SES diverse) participated. Five themes and one subtheme were identified around changes in eating habits and mealtime frequency, increases in snacking, family connectedness at mealtimes, and use of screens at meals. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the family food environment. Families shared how their eating habits have changed and that device usage increased at mealtimes. Some changes (e.g., weight gain) may have lasting health implications for both children and parents. Public health officials, pediatricians, and schools should work with families to resume healthy habits post pandemic.
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Hammons, A.J.; Robart, R. Family Food Environment during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study. Children 2021, 8, 354. https://doi.org/10.3390/children8050354
AMA Style
Hammons AJ, Robart R. Family Food Environment during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study. Children. 2021; 8(5):354. https://doi.org/10.3390/children8050354
Chicago/Turabian StyleHammons, Amber J., and Ryan Robart. 2021. "Family Food Environment during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study" Children 8, no. 5: 354. https://doi.org/10.3390/children8050354
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