Food Insecurity and Housing Instability Among Dental Hygiene Students: A Cross‐Sectional Study

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: Food insecurity (FI) and housing instability (HI) are major issues affecting college students in balancing academic demands with personal responsibilities. The study purpose was to investigate the prevalence of FI and HI among dental hygiene students and examine the relationships with perceptions of academic performance/preparedness and psychological well-being (PWB). METHODS: A cross-sectional survey design was conducted with a convenience sampling of dental hygiene students (n = 287). The study used perception of academic performance/preparedness items along with three validated instruments: USDA 6-items Food Security Module, Housing Instability Scale, and Ryff's Psychological Well-Being Scale. Descriptive, correlation, and regression were used for analysis. RESULTS: The completion rate was 62.2% (n = 178). Findings indicated moderate levels of FI (M = 2.34, SD = 2.37) and PWB (M = 2.66, SD = 0.78), and high HI (M = 3.26, SD = 1.11). FI was a significant negative predictor of GPA (β = -0.26, p = 0.003), and HI was a positive predictor of perceived academic performance/preparedness (β = 0.18, p = 0.029). Further, PWB was positively associated with perceptions of academic performance/preparedness (β = 0.41, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study provided insight into how food and housing insecurities and PWB were related to academic outcomes of dental hygiene students suggesting that these are important factors that may hinder academic success and exam preparedness. These results suggest that dental hygiene programs may promote student success through institutional support to address food security and housing stability.