Testing the theoretical similarities between food and water insecurity: Buffering hypothesis and effects on mental wellbeing

Maxfield, Amanda

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112412

Cited by 46 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…It is often the case that women bear the physical and emotional brunt of the burden of water insecurity across all settings, as they disproportionally carry out water acquisition (Baguma, Hashim, Aljunid, & Loiskandl, 2013; Hanrahan & Mercer, 2019; Harris, Kleiber, Goldin, Darkwah, & Morinville, 2017; Ray, 2007). This makes the gendered nature of coping impossible to ignore, as women are subsequently responsible for buffering family members against the effects of various resource insecurities (Anderson, Clow, & Haworth‐Brockman, 2013; Baguma et al, 2013; Harris et al, 2017; Maxfield, 2020), which may increase physical and psychological stress. To this end, understanding intra‐household differences in the experiences of water insecurity and coping strategies can help design interventions that are more gender‐sensitive and equitable.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coping strategies for individual and household‐level water insecurity: A systematic review

et al. 2020

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Household water insecurity is a complex socioecological challenge with a range of consequences for health and wellbeing. Understanding individual and household‐level coping strategies, i.e., responses or adaptations to manage water insecurity, can shape future research and development practice. We therefore (a) systematically describe the characteristics and contexts of 173 studies documenting coping strategies and (b) classify the types of strategies within four domains of water insecurity: access, use, quality, and reliability. Most studies were from Sub‐Saharan Africa or South Asia. In the domain of access, the most common coping strategies were building infrastructure, and storing, purchasing, and sharing water. For use, changing food consumption, agricultural practices, and hygiene were most frequently mentioned. For quality, water treatment was the most common strategy. To ensure water reliability, people most frequently reported changing routines or relocating their homes altogether. Our review provides a useful framework to understand coping strategies, but more research is needed to address three gaps in particular. First, we recommend more representative exploration of the range of coping strategies, particularly in middle‐ and high‐income countries. Second, the links between coping with water insecurity and a range of other nutritional, social, financial, and health outcomes need to be better understood to address overall household wellbeing. Third, we recommend the development of a metric to quantify individual and household‐level water insecurity‐related coping strategies. This line of inquiry can enable practitioners to design and implement context‐specific interventions that leverage preexisting strategies to improve experiences of water insecurity. This article is categorized under: Human Water > Water Governance Engineering Water > Planning Water

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coping strategies for individual and household‐level water insecurity: A systematic review

et al. 2020

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“…As Workman and Ureksoy (2017) describe, in qualitative interviews participants relayed that they could not cook food or grow sufficient crops without water. Similarly, Maxfield's (2019) findings that water insecurity had independent effects in Jaipur fathers when controlling for food insecurity, but not mothers, may be due to the interconnected nature of water and food for women, who are responsible for food preparation, cooking, and cleaning, all tasks that link food and water resources. Men, conversely, may experience water insecurity distinctly as they suffer from inadequate water for drinking or personal hygiene.…”

Section: Theme 4: the Household As Nexus For Food-water Sufferingmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In later work in three Ethiopian villages, Stevenson et al (2016) found that women's scores on the water insecurity scale were associated with psychological distress, though this work also indicated that a water intervention did not improve it. Stevenson T A B L E 1 (Continued) Maxfield (2019) Households in very low-income sections of Jaipur, India.…”

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confidence: 99%

Localizing resource insecurities: A biocultural perspective on water and wellbeing

et al. 2020

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A biocultural approach provides an emerging framework for clarifying the mechanisms that connect water security to human health and wellbeing. Five basic tenets of the biocultural approach are outlined: The focus on the local, the centrality of culture, the notion of embodied disadvantage, a concern with proximate mechanisms as a means to test theorized pathways, and recognition of intersecting and potentially amplified (syndemic) risks. From a review of both new and dispersed biocultural literature on household water, four key themes emerge: (a) individual vulnerabilities to the biological effects of water insecurity are shaped by cultural practices; (b) water insecurity is a powerful biocultural stressor on mental health; (c) water insecurity mediates between low power and worse health within communities, and through multiple mechanisms; (d) the household is a nexus for food–water interactions, each likely worsening each other and health through syndemic relationships. This sets an agenda for a biocultural approach to the household as a localizing nexus for manifesting the very human costs to mental and physical health of managing under conditions of extreme household resource insecurity. This article is categorized under: Engineering of Water > Planning Water Human Water > Water Governance Human Water > Water as Imagined and Represented

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“…These include very low income, debt, and insecure employment, housing, or food access (Lund et al, 2010;Patel & Kleinman, 2003). Recent research has sought to unravel the complex relationship between water insecurity and food insecurity as each might independently predict or together compound mental illhealth, and these early results suggest both matter (Boateng et al, 2020;Brewis, Workman, et al, 2020;Brewis, Choudhary, & Wutich, 2019b;Maxfield, 2020;Workman & Ureksoy, 2017;Wutich & Brewis, 2014). More research will be needed to determine the role water plays in exacerbating the negative mental health effects of other poverty-related risks like insecure household housing, energy, and/or employment.…”

Section: Candidate Mechanism 1: Materials Deprivation Especially Unmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water and mental health

2020

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There is a well‐established connection among water quality, sanitation, and physical health. The potentially important relationship between water and mental health is considerably less studied. Reviewing evidence from ethnography, geography, folklore, indigenous studies, rural medicine, drought research, and large‐n statistical studies, we argue there is now good theoretical rationale and growing evidence of water insecurity as a possible driver of mental ill‐health. Furthermore, some nascent evidence suggests that emotionally meaningful interactions with water might improve mental health outcomes. Leveraging these literatures, we address the many ways in which mental health outcomes are conceptualized and operationalized in water research, including as emotional distress, perceived stress, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, somatic symptoms, and quality of life. We outline arguments supporting seven possible (and likely interlocking) mechanisms that could explain such a relationship: (a) material deprivation and related uncertainty, (b) shame of social failure, (c) worry about health threats, (d) loss of connections to people and places, (e) frustration around opportunity losses and restricted autonomy, (f) interpersonal conflict and intimate partner violence, and (g) institutional injustice or unfairness. However, we explain that as most existing studies are ethnographic, qualitative, or cross‐sectional, a causal relationship between water and mental ill‐health is yet to be confirmed empirically. More research on this topic is needed, particularly given that poorly understood connections may create barriers to achieving Sustainable Development Goals 3 (health) and 6 (water). We further suggest that tracking mental health indicators may provide unique and as‐yet underappreciated insights into the efficacy of water projects and other development interventions. This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Water, Health, and Sanitation Human Water > Water as Imagined and Represented

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Testing the theoretical similarities between food and water insecurity: Buffering hypothesis and effects on mental wellbeing

Cited by 46 publications

References 40 publications

Coping strategies for individual and household‐level water insecurity: A systematic review

Coping strategies for individual and household‐level water insecurity: A systematic review

Localizing resource insecurities: A biocultural perspective on water and wellbeing

Water and mental health

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