Native American resilience to protect family nutrition during a pandemic: A qualitative analysis

Native American (NA) communities have a history of being forced to adapt to adversity and leverage cultural strengths to cope with nutrition injustices. For generations, NA families in the United States (US) have experienced ongoing burdens from colonization-related disruptions to traditional foodways, resulting in disproportionately high prevalence of food and drinking water insecurity and related early childhood obesity. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated these disparities. This study qualitatively explored NA families' experiences with food access, water access and early childhood feeding during the COVID-19 pandemic. We further sought to identify resilience factors and specific response strategies that families employed to deal with challenges brought about by the pandemic. A total of 53 in-depth interviews were conducted with NA mothers (mean age 21.2 years) of children 0-3 years old living in reservation-based Southwest communities in the US. Study participants were a sub-sample of mothers from a home visiting study that was disrupted by COVID-19 in 2020. Interviews were conducted between July, 2021 and February, 2022. Findings suggest that pandemic lockdowns and store restrictions magnified existing challenges and barriers to accessing food and water. Families leveraged resilience factors, including family support and practicing traditional foodways, to minimize negative impacts on child feeding practices. Understanding the social and cultural resilience factors used to cope with pandemic challenges from an NA perspective can inform future strategies to improve food and water access and support positive child feeding practices for NA families, especially during public health crises.