Empatando la pelea: Inseguridad alimentaria en madres pobres con jefatura de familia y sus hijos/as participantes del programa Head Start en cuatro municipios de Puerto Rico

Research about the food security in households, which takes place when physical, social, and economic access to nourishment that is enough, safe, and nutritive, and is available at all times, to cover the dietary needs and the food preferences to achieve an active and healthy life. The measurement of food insecurity in households constitutes a poverty and general wellbeing indicator that is an essential component of public health and human rights of a country.;The objects of study were women head of households with minor children, participants of Head Start Program in four municipalities in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico faces a fiscal, social, and political crisis, which is reflected in high levels of unemployment, increase in the cost of life, including the price of food. Due to all these factors its imperative to assess the food insecurity of its population.;The investigation reflects that the factor that promotes the food insecurity is the lack of access to earn income. The gender inequality imposes to women differences in power and access to economic, social, and political opportunities, which increases the threat of poverty when they stay alone with the care of minor children, regardless of their previous economic condition. If women head of households are capable to overcome the severe food insecurity conditions (with or without hunger), in most cases is due to the use of strategies to tie the fight..;The investigation was developed through the implementation of a mix method, with an explanatory sequential design. In the first phase, a questionnaire was applied to forty eight (48) women to explore the following matters: buying practices, consumption, maximization of the food available, and management of benefits of the Nutritional Assistance Program (PAN, for its acronym in Spanish). It was also assessed the prevalence and level of severity of the food insecurity in the household. The Scale of Food Security for Puerto Rico (ESAPR, for its acronym in Spanish) was used. The use of a semi-structured depth interview to eight (8) participants in the second phase, served to inquire about the: knowledge and approach of the concepts of healthy alimentation and food security; strategies used by women to handle and reduce the food insecurity; evaluations on the effectiveness of nutritional assistance programs; recommendations for the development of public policy related to the food security with a perspective of gender. It was also explored, if the presence of an adult male in the household has an impact on the conditions of the food security or insecurity.;The analysis of the data produced in the investigation lead to the emergent model "Tying the fight" for the understanding of the feminization of the food insecurity in poor head household women in Puerto Rico. This model proposes the presentation of a conceptual model that enables a better comprehension of the food insecurity phenomenon, according to the expressions made by the poor head of household women that participated in the study. For the majority of the respondent head household women, the money received by the PAN, salaries and other sources of income were not enough to catch up with the monthly food expense. The results imply that regardless of the source or origin of income, they are not sufficient for most of the respondent mothers.