Class Outside covers lessons, projects and topics that go outside the normal AT classroom and textbook fare.

Going deep on Food Insecurity in Class

Food insecurity matters to educators and athletic trainers alike. Nationally 23% of undergraduates, and 12% of graduate students face food insecurity, so it is likely that one of your students or athletes have either experienced, or are currently experiencing, food insecurity.

Within the 2020 CAATE Standards, there are four standards that closely align. They are:

Standard 56– advocate for the health needs of clients, patients, communities, and populations. 

Standard 57– Analyze the impact of health literacy and social determinants of health on patient care and outcomes to determine healthcare strategies that empower patients and improve outcomes. 

Standard 61– Practice in collaboration with other health care and wellness professionals. 

Standard DEI 2– Practice cultural competency, foster cultural humility, and demonstrate respect in client/patient care. 

What are some ways to incorporate these concepts into our education programs?

Zip Code Assignment: Students are given several zip codes and tasked with finding the number of fast food restaurants, healthy food options, grocery stores, and corner stores within the zip code. We recommend providing students with several zip codes so that they can clearly see the difference neighborhoods and built environments can make. Potential add-ons would be to research prices of food and create a meal plan for a family with a budget. Following the assignment, we would encourage a time of reflection through debriefing or written reflections.

Local Resource Guide: Students are tasked with finding charities, community fridges, and other organizations local to their clinical site. We believe it is vital for students and athletic trainers to be prepared with information and resources prior to a patient expressing need. This allows for quick referrals without the stigma of having patients wait while the clinician researches resources in the area. We have found this especially helpful for our students during their immersion experience, as it also helps orient them to their new community.

Standardized Patients/Simulations: Having conversations surrounding food insecurity may not be something that comes up naturally in every clinical experience. Completing a standardized patient or simulation can provide students with the experience of looking for signs and asking appropriate questions in a controlled environment with an opportunity for feedback.

Partner with Other Programs on Campus: Clinicians should not work in isolation; therefore, students should not learn in isolation. Consider what other programs you can partner with to provide a rich interprofessional experience. Some great examples include social work, public health, nutrition, counseling/psychology and education. 

Service Learning: A great interprofessional experience can be completed through service learning- which is intentional learning and reflection that provides a service to the community. Students can partner with other programs to perform a community needs assessment and develop programming or service projects that address those needs in a sustainable manner.

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What if I think one of my students or athletes is food insecure?

Provide Resources

Consider your syllabus or learning management system as a place to house resources or information for students in-need.  By sharing information in these spaces, it provides students with the ability to connect with services without the stigma of asking for help. This also signals to your students that you care about them as humans first.

Consider Your Policies

We recommend examining your policies through an inclusive lens. Having a blanket statement that athletic training students cannot hold a job will exclude students with financial need from joining the profession. While we know that clinical and didactic education needs to be a priority, some of our students need to work in order to put a roof over their heads and food on their table. At Temple, we discuss job opportunities that have been flexible and worked well with students in the past. We also work with students to hone time management skills and to set priorities for their schedule.

Reflect on Your Words and Examples

Remember that your classroom and clinical space should be a safe space for students and for learning. Be intentional with your words and inclusive in your examples. Although a popular technique, we do not recommend using a poverty simulation. Activities like this can be harmful to students who are housing or food insecure by re-traumatizing or reinforcing harmful stereotypes.

Properly training athletic training students on how to manage food insecurity amongst patients is vitally important within athletic training. We would love to hear from you. What ways are you addressing these educational opportunities?

Have a topic idea for Class Outside? Send it to us here: class-outside-topics