Lifestyle Medicine Conference, 2024

Presenting Author: Lori A. Borchers, PhD., RN, CNE, IBCLC, CHSE, Co-Authors: Emma C. Sullivan, BS and Mary K. Skrabanek, BS.

Social Connection through a Pay-What-You-Can Cafe Model

Abstract Background: Pay-what-you-can cafes allow everyone to dine regardless of an individual’s ability to afford a meal. Food insecurity can negatively impact socio-emotional well-being and present challenges to maintaining social connections. This study describes the relationship between food insecurity and quality of life for those individuals who dine at the community café.

Abstract Methods: This study uses a mixed-methods approach. Individuals who are either guests or culinary apprentices sign up for healthy living assessment appointments. The healthy living assessments are conducted on Mondays when the café is closed. Participants complete the USDA 10-item FSSM, Short Form 12-v2 Quality of Life by Quality Metric, and four open-response questions. Weight, height, BMI, A1C, and Blood Pressure are collected. Individualized teaching related to chronic diseases such as hypertension and pre-diabetes/diabetes is provided using infographics from the CDC, AHA, ADA, and ACLM.

Abstract Results: This study is ongoing through December 2024. Preliminary results were obtained from April 2023-May 2024 and are presented here. There was a significant positive correlation between the frequency of visits to the community cafe and Mental Quality of Life (r = .313, p = .027). Qualitative responses demonstrated that a majority of patrons felt a positive sense of community - common themes included a feeling of family, connectedness, and teamwork. Qualitative responses also demonstrated that without the community cafe, many patrons would resort to less healthy or fulfilling dining options such as fast food restaurants, not eating at all, foodbanks, or less desirable food options.

Abstract Conclusion: Even though the study is ongoing and results are preliminary, this study demonstrates that community cafés have the ability to affect an individuals’ mental health and social connectedness. The community café model offers a representation of how
nonprofits can address health inequities, such as food insecurity and social inequities simultaneously

Funding: This study was funded by the Texas Health Community Impact Grant given through Texas Health Resources.
Quality Metric approved the use of the SF-12v2 and provided the software program to analyze the data results.

Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior

AUTHORS: Alexandra L. MacMillan Uribe, PhD, RDN ∙ Jacob Szeszulski, PhD ∙ Lori Borchers, PhD ∙ Heather A. Eicher-Miller, PhD ∙ Rebecca A. Seguin-Fowler, PhD, RDN, LD, CSCS ∙ Erika Largacha Cevallos, MS

Diet Quality of Community Café Meals Among Guests With Food Insecurity

Objective

Compare the diet quality of a meal consumed at a community café (café meals), a pay-what-you-can restaurant, to a meal consumed for an equivalent eating occasion on the day before (comparison meal) by guests with food insecurity.

Methods

Dietary recalls were collected from café guests with food insecurity to determine the Healthy Eating Index-2020 (HEI-2020) total and component scores. Healthy Eating Index-2020 scores were compared between meals using paired-sample t tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests.

Results

Most participants (n = 40; 80% male; 42.5% Black) had very low food security (70.0%). Café meal had a higher HEI-2020 total score (46.7 ± 10.5 vs 34.4 ± 11.6; P < 0.001) and total vegetables (2.6 ± 2.0 vs 1.2 ± 1.7; P = 0.004), total fruits (2.1 ± 2.2 vs 0.6 ± 1.5; P < 0.001), whole fruits (1.6 ± 2.0 vs 0.3 ± 0.9; P < 0.001), and refined grains (7.8 ± 3.5 vs 3.9 ± 3.9; P < 0.001) scores than comparison meals.

Conclusions and Implications

The café meal had better diet quality than the comparison meal, suggesting its potential for improving diet quality among guests with food insecurity.

Elsevier: Science Direct

Authors: Andrew McNeely, Lori Borchers, Jacob Szeszulski, Heather A. Eicher-Miller, Rebecca A. Seguin-Fowler, Alexandra MacMillan Uribe

The role of the community café in addressing food security: Perceptions of managers and directors

In the United States, the pay-what-you-can restaurant model (community cafes) is an increasingly popular approach to addressing food insecurity in local communities. We conducted semi-structured interviews (n = 13) with community café executive managers and directors to assess their perceptions of the role that their cafes play in addressing food security (FS). Analysis of interviews revealed two major areas of emphasis by participants. Filling an unoccupied space in the food security landscape. Interviewees regularly cited the goal of making meals available through a dependable schedule, convenient location, and welcoming atmosphere for guests to promote regular visits to the café, and they did so with an awareness of how their practices were shaped by perceived shortcomings in comparable services. In addition, guest agency and social aspects of the café as components of utilization, was another major area. Interviewees often regarded the opportunity of the food insecure guest to choose healthy options (i.e., nutritionally dense) over less healthful ones (i.e., calorically dense) from the menu as a critical component of their service. The social component of the café (e.g., community atmosphere, ‘dining-out’ experience) was another aspect of the café’s function that promoted dignity for the guest which can lead to greater likelihood of return visits. Perceptions shared by participants of the café’s role in addressing food security suggest that rather than simply adding to the available options of hunger relief services, the café model attempts to address many areas of concern, such as structural and cultural barriers, found in the traditional forms of charitable food provision.

Texas Christian University (TCU)

Author: Lori A. Borchers

A STUDY OF A ONE WORLD EVERYBODY EATS CAFÉ AND HOW IT AFFECTS FOOD INSECURITY AND A SENSE OF COMMUNITY IN COLLEGE STUDENTS

For more than a decade, food insecurity rates among college students at all kinds of institutions have been higher than that of the general population of the United States. Far from simply being hungry, food insecure students feel shame and stigma because of their predicament, often withdrawing from social life with food secure friends. Ultimately their studies suffer, and colleges become concerned not just because of their academic performance, but because these food insecure students become more likely to withdraw for the college altogether. This dissertation examines the impact of a One World Everyone Eats café on the food insecurity of college students. While food pantries and other methods exist to distribute food to college students, the One World Everyone Eats café follows a philosophy of seven core values. Among these values is that people who eat at the café pay only what they can afford for a meal, volunteers contribute time and labor to run the café, and the community is encouraged to work and dine. In this way, people who are food secure and food insecure cannot be readily distinguished from each other in the café. This kind of welcoming environment, forming a distinct community within the café, can serve to erase the isolation and stigma that food insecure students feel. Surveys show the value that students place on both the food they receive at the café as well as the sense of community that the develop from eating and volunteering at the café. The results of this study provide a basis for more research at other cafés and eating establishments, and provide possible approaches for college administrators to alleviate food insecurity among their students.