Elucidation of health problem onset mechanism caused by poverty, and solution system construction through "Children's Cafeteria"

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K14170
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 09030:Childhood and nursery/pre-school education-related
• Research Institution: Showa Women's University (2020-2022); National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition (2019)
• Principal Investigator: Kurotani Kayo 昭和女子大学, 食健康科学部, 講師 (50610739)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 子ども食堂 / フードパントリー / 食支援 / ソーシャルキャピタル / 社会的つながり

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In two children's cafeteria in a certain municipality in Tokyo, it was suggested that the citizen participation score among the social capital scores is higher for the staffs compared to the parents, indicating a higher social cohesion tendency among the parents compared to the staffs. The Veggie Score, reflecting vegetable intake status, suggested that children have a higher score compared to their parents.

The results of a survey targeting university and graduate students utilizing food pantries revealed that the frequency of self-cooking is over 70%, with differences observed in the food commonly purchased and desired food items between genders. Furthermore, while the living conditions of food pantry users under the COVID-19 pandemic have gradually improved, there is an increasing trend in individuals feeling lonely.

Free Research Field

栄養疫学　社会疫学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

子ども食堂の利用者を対象に食生活、健康指標、ソーシャルキャピタル指標等について調べた研究は国内外でほとんど報告されていない。子ども食堂は新型コロナウイルス感染症流行下においても増加し、2022年現在、7363箇所にのぼる。また、新型コロナウイルス感染症流行下では、子ども食堂形式の共食ではなく、フードパントリー形式の食品配布が子ども食堂運営者により実施されていた。子ども食堂利用者同様、フードパントリー利用者の実態を明らかにした調査、研究もほとんどみられないため、本研究で2021年度から実施したフードパントリー利用者の実態調査は、基礎資料としての社会的意義が大きいと考えられる。