| Little research has been done on the management of food resources in food insecure families although there is some evidence to suggest that food resources are not shared equally amongst members of the same household. This study characterized the food management strategies employed by low-income, mother-led families in Atlantic Canada and determined their impact on diet quality.;Three of five dichotomous food management strategies; mother-driven/child-driven, healthy eating/subsistence eating and meal planning/ad hoc food consumption were positively related to diet quality of all household members (p < 0.05), whereas food privileging/sharing food and formal meal structure/informal meal structure were not. Severity of household food insecurity and position within the family were not related to diet quality. Nutrition interventions aimed at improving diet quality of low-income families should consider strategies used by households to manage their food resources.;Secondary data analyses were conducted on 24 families from a larger study of mother-led, low-income families who provided data on socio-demographics, food insecurity, four weekly 24-hour dietary recalls of household members and an ethnographic interview on food provisioning. Using the supper meal as a proxy for diet quality (food type, portion size, servings per food group, preparation method), a plate was visually constructed for each family member (n = 313), and compared to a thematic analysis of the ethnographic interview. An index of behaviour was developed for five food management strategies and validated by a panel of nutrition and food security experts. Families were scored on each of the food management strategies and individual members were given a diet quality score. |
