For the purposes of this project, the University of California Cooperative Extension’s
Emergency Food Client Questionnaire (UCCE-EFCQ) and the United States Department
of Agriculture’s Core Food Security Module (USDA-CFSM) were combined so that a
more in-depth analysis of factors influencing hunger and food insecurity could be
conducted. One survey was developed from these two models and revised to meet the
specific needs of Calaveras County. This revised version was called the “Client Survey”
(Appendix B, pp. 84-99). Questions 1 through 32 on the Client Survey were taken from
the UCCE-EFCQ. Questions 33 through 48 on the client survey were taken from the
USDA-CFSM. The following list outlines the changes to the original UCCE-EFCQ that
were made and the reasoning behind those changes:
Revised “Client Survey”(p. 85)–Question 6: What kind of housing do you have?
Responses were worded to more specifically differentiate between house, mobile
home, and recreational vehicle (RV). For example, “own home” on the original
survey was changed to two separate responses “own house (not mobile home)” and
“own mobile home” on the revised “Client Survey”. The response “mobile
home/RV” on the original survey was changed to two separate responses “rent mobile
home” and “RV”. These changes were based on the knowledge that Calaveras
County low-income residents might choose to live in mobile homes or recreational vehicles. If a large percentage of clients was found to choose this lifestyle,
intervention programs could be designed to target this particular subgroup.
Revised “Client Survey”(p. 86)–Question 9: What are the ages of the people who live
in your house, apartment, etc. not including yourself? The question on the UCCE-
EFCQ that asked for information on the ages of children and adults in the
respondent’s family seemed confusing and complicated. The question on the UCCE-
EFCQ was redesigned in an attempt to make it less complicated and more
understandable to respondents.
Revised “Client Survey” (p. 88)–Question 16: What are you or your household’s
monthly sources of income? (your best estimate) Two responses on the UCCE-
EFCQ needed clarification. One response, Aid to Families with Dependent Children
(AFDC), had recently changed its title to Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF);
therefore, both acronyms were used to facilitate respondent understanding. The
response “salary” was clarified by changing it to “Employment (Salary)”.
Revised “Client Survey” (p. 88)–Question 17: How much does your household
spend each month on the following items? (your best estimate) The list of responses
was made more specific. For example—“rent/mortgage” was separated on the revised
survey to “rent” and “house or mobile home payment”. The response
“gas/electricity” was changed to six separate responses “gas”, “electricity”, “wood”,
“propane”, “sewer”, and “garbage” to reflect the variety of utilities used in Calaveras
County.
Revised “Client Survey” (p. 90)–Question 23: Why do you or other members of your
household shop there? This question refers to the type of store where respondents buy
their groceries. Due to the rural nature of Calaveras County, the answer, “no
transportation to get anywhere else” was added to the response choices.
Revised “Client Survey” (p. 90)–Question 25: Would any of the following things be
helpful to you or other members of your household? One of the purposes of doing the
survey was to identify the needs of Calaveras County residents who seek emergency
food assistance. The addition of this question allowed the development of a set of
responses to identify specific workshops, informational materials, or interventions
that might help respondents manage their limited resources more efficiently.
Revised “Client Survey” (pp. 91-93)—Questions 26 through 31: The original UCCE-
EFCQ had several questions related to soup kitchens and emergency food. All
questions relating to soup kitchens were eliminated since soup kitchens do not exist in
Calaveras County. The questions relating to emergency food recipients were grouped
together on pages 91 through 93. The goal of these questions was to elicit details
about respondent households that were utilizing the emergency food system in
Calaveras County. The questions asked for more in-depth answers in areas such as
where most households sought emergency food, the frequency of need, the frequency
of needing but not receiving, the reason for need, problems getting to emergency food
sites, and the quality of the food received. If a respondent had not received
emergency food in Calaveras County, the first of these questions allowed a “no”
response and the respondent was instructed to skip to question #33.
Revised “Client Survey” (p. 92)–Question 29: What problems did you have now or in
the past getting to the emergency food site? One of the goals of the survey was to
identify the obstacles and barriers respondents experienced when seeking emergency
food assistance. This question was added to elicit more in-depth information.
Revised “Client Survey” (pp. 94-98)—Questions 33 through 48): The USDA-CFSM
questionnaire was added to determine the food security status of the respondent
household instead of food security questions 28 through 31 on the original UCCE-EFCQ