A Scoping Review of Food Insecurity Assessments Among United States Veterans

U.S. veterans face distinctive challenges placing them at a higher risk of food insecurity (FI) compared with nonveterans. However, there is a paucity of literature examining specific tools to screen for FI among this population. We conducted a scoping review of the literature to examine the use of veteran-specific FI assessments. We identified 113 articles from 2010–2024 focused on U.S. veterans and FI assessments. Of these, 22 articles were selected for review following inclusion/exclusion criteria application, removal of duplicates, and quality assessment. The most common screening tool was versions of the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module (n=10), while 12 studies used subsets of other tools or assessments specific to their study. Studies reported up to 25% FI among screened veterans. Longitudinal research is lacking on the validity and reliability of FI assessments in veteran populations, which would aid program and policy efforts to measure and mitigate FI among veterans.