WITHDRAWN Disrupt Food: A Photovoice Project Using Instagram to Examine Food Insecurity during COVID-19

Background & Purpose: Photovoice is a participatory action research method that was developed to help communities share images as a tool for discussion on various issues impacting their lives (Joyce et al., 2015). Although this tool has been helpful to promote community engagement in research, using this methodology during the COVID-19 pandemic was challenging due to limited mobility and shut-down orders. Given an increase in use of social media as a platform to share information during the pandemic, this study explores the use of Instagram to accomplish the principles of Photovoice. Specifically, the study utilized Instagram to explore how the social, political, economic, and cultural environment impacted access to food during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Method: Twenty undergraduate students enrolled in a University Core Curriculum class on Food and Culture in Winter of 2020 participated in the Photovoice project. An Instagram account called Disrupt Food was created, and the username and password were shared with all participants. All participants were required to post 1 picture every week for a period of 8 weeks using the prompt “How does my social, political, economic and cultural environment impact my access to food?”. Participants were required to provide a 100-word description of their picture along with three hashtags. To ensure that the project was inclusive of participants who did not have an Instagram account, an option of emailing the pictures and description was also provided. Only 2 participants opted for emailing, while majority uploaded the pictures on Instagram. Photovoice methodology was used to codify the issues, and themes that arose from the photographs through pile-sorting and discussions.

Results: During the 8 week period, participants uploaded a total of 160 pictures. There were 5 primary themes that emerged from the pictures. These included, (i) impact of socioeconomic status on access to food, (ii) living with an immune-compromised family member and its challenges in accessing grocery stores, (iii) lack of transportation and convenient access to stores that sell nutritious food, (iv) hoarding and other consumer behaviors during the pandemic, and (v) increased need for comfort food due to mental health challenges.

Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is one of the first studies that has utilized Instagram to share the socio-economic and political impact of COVID-19 and its role in food insecurity amongst college students. The platform of Instagram for Photovoice was beneficial as it served a dual purpose of increasing engagement of youth in the research study, and sharing information about food insecurity during the pandemic. This adaptation of the Photovoice Methodology was helpful during the shut-down as participants were able to continue to stay engaged with their communities while adhering to the shut-down and social distancing orders.