Nutrition Knowledge, English Adequacy, Women’s Education and Food Insecurity Among Syrian Refugees in Florida

OBJECTIVES: The objective was to measure food insecurity and determine whether food insecurity may be associated with nutrition knowledge, English adequacy and education of Syrian women from the households participating in this study. METHODS: One-on-one interview questionnaires were administered to Syrian refugee households residing in Florida, N = 80, n = 43 in rural area, n = 37 in urban area. The main outcomes were food insecurity, nutrition knowledge, English adequacy, and women's education. RESULTS: Among the total households, 80% were food insecure, and food insecurity was greater in rural area (60.9%) than in urban area (39.1%). The majority (57.5%) of participants scored fair nutrition knowledge. One-way frequency analysis showed that 75% of households had inadequate English and 25% had adequate English. Twenty three point seven percent of Syrian refugee women had high school diploma or higher, when 76.3% did not complete their high school education. The Chi square test showed a significant difference in nutrition knowledge in urban and rural areas, P = 0.04. It also showed significant differences in women's education in rural and urban areas, P = 0.03. The result of multivariate logistic regression model indicated that types of residence had an inverse significant effect on food security after controlling for our variables. Syrian refugees in rural areas had 79.9 greater odds of being food insecure compared with urban areas, odds ratio = 0.201, 95% CI: 0.053–0.758, P = 0.01. CONCLUSIONS: Nutrition knowledge, English adequacy and women's education may be less important than types of residence. The types of residence is a contributing factor to food insecurity in Syrian refugees residing in Florida. A larger sample size would allow clearer understanding of the relation of our variables with food insecurity. FUNDING SOURCES: Self funded