Social Service Providers’ Perceptions of Older Adults’ Food Access During COVID-19

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated risk factors for food insecurity among older adults, while also altering how government agencies and social service organizations could serve this population given their disproportionate vulnerability to the virus. The current study sought to understand social service providers’ perspectives about how low-income community-dwelling older adults’ access to food and related resources changed during the COVID pandemic. Data were collected via in-depth interviews with 22 social service providers from Oregon-based public and private social service agencies. Responses indicated that changes to older adults’ food access during the pandemic stemmed from increases in public benefit amounts and social distancing guidelines. Participants indicated that temporary increases in SNAP allotments supported older adults’ food security. Additionally, social distancing guidelines disrupted usual ways of procuring food, such as going to grocery stores, obtaining food with the assistance of family or neighbors, receiving deliveries from social programs, and visiting congregate meal sites. Food assistance programs changed their operations to reduce in-person interaction and increase the use of technology. When investigating older adults' food access, future research should consider adults’ experiences of and barriers to SNAP receipt, social support from social networks and safety net programs, and technology access and knowledge.

Key Points

• Social service providers offer a unique perspective on older adults’ food access.

• Interviews with providers documented older adult food access during COVID.

• Expanded federal assistance and social distancing shaped seniors’ food access.

• Food access may vary by program eligibility, social support, and technology access.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19 Pandemic
• food insecurity
• Meals on Wheels
• older adults
• policy
• safety net
• SNAP
• social services
• social support

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Dusti Linnell, Maureen Quinn Lores, and Frida Endinjok for helping to review the study protocol, recruit participants, and conduct interviews; Danielle Nelson and Kaci Graber for cleaning transcripts; James Ziliak, Craig Gundersen, and Jeff Spradling for their leadership of the UKCPR ”Understanding Food-Related Hardships among Older Americans” research program; and the social service agency staff who participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research (UKCPR) “Understanding Food-Related Hardships among Older Americans” research program through funding from the US Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service under Contract Number 12319818C0010. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the authors and should not be construed as representing the opinions or policies of the UKCPR or any agency of the Federal Government.