Search results

Foodbank use in the UK is rising but, despite high levels of poverty, Pakistani women are less likely to use food banks than white British women. The purpose of this paper is to understand the lived experience of food in the context of poverty amongst Pakistani and white British women in Bradford, including perspectives on food aid.

A total of 16 Pakistani and white British women, recruited through community initiatives, participated in three focus groups (one interview was also held as a consequence of recruitment difficulties). Each group met for two hours aided by a moderator and professional interpreter. The transcripts were analysed thematically using a three-stage process.

Women in low-income households employed dual strategies to reconcile caring responsibilities and financial obligations: the first sought to make ends meet within household income; the second looked to outside sources of support. There was a reported near absence of food insecurity amongst Pakistani women which could be attributed to support from social/familial networks, resource management within the household, and cultural and religious frameworks. A minority of participants and no Pakistani respondents accessed charitable food aid. There were three reasons for the non-use of food aid: it was not required because of resource management strategies within the household and assistance from familial/social networks; it was avoided out of shame; and knowledge about its existence was poor.

This case study is the first examination of varying experiences of food insecurity amongst UK white British and Pakistani women. Whilst the sample size is small, it presents new evidence on perceptions of food insecurity amongst Pakistani households and on why households of varying ethnicities do not use food aid.

Exposure to unhealthy lifestyle behaviours before pregnancy affects the health of mothers and their (unborn) children. A social marketing strategy could empower prospective parents to actively prepare for pregnancy through preconception care (PCC). This study aims to describe the development of a PCC social marketing strategy based on the eight-point benchmark criteria for effective social marketing and to clarify the concept of using social marketing for health promotion purposes.

An extensive literature search was carried out regarding the needs of the target population and PCC behavioural goals, leading to the development of a bottom-up, ambassador-driven, communication concept.

In-depth insights of all benchmarks were analysed and incorporated during the development process of a new PCC social marketing strategy, with a special focus on the application of the “Health Belief Model” (Benchmark 3) and “the Four-P framework” (Benchmark 8). Evidence-based preconceptional health information is our product, for a low price as the information is freely attainable, promoting a message of overall women‘s health and online or through a consult with a health-care provider as the appropriate place. This formative research resulted in the development of the Woke Women® strategy, empowering women to actively prepare for pregnancy.

Developing a social marketing strategy to enhance actively preparing for pregnancy shows potential to encourage prospective parents to adopt healthier preconceptional lifestyle behaviours and can therefore improve the health of future generations.