A self-assessment tool for food relief services and affordable food retail

Description

Despite strong economies, approximately one in six Australian households experience food insecurity, and food relief provision is insufficient to address this social challenge. Food relief and affordable food retail services need to be delivered with more choice, dignity and connections beyond food, but no quality improvement tools exist to support this transition.
In collaboration with the community sector and government, we developed and piloted a self-assessment tool, the ‘Service Checker’, for food relief providers and other affordable food retailers. Twelve domains of ‘best practice’ were co-designed with partners and used as apriori domains for a new self-assessment tool. A structured literature search identified 20 similar existing tools, from which items were extracted. An item bank (12 domains, 98 items) was drafted and tested for face validity with partners and research collaborators (n=16). Refinements resulted in a draft tool with 9 domains and 75 items. Pilot-testing was done an online survey (currently underway). Factor analysis will be used to determine construct validity.
The Service Checker is a research-tested self-assessment tool that can be used by community service organisations to self-reflect on food relief practice. In future this tool can be used to inform quality improvement planning for increasing social impact.

Period	3 Dec 2024
Event title	Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference 2024 (ANZMAC): AI for Sustainable Marketing: Bridging Innovation and Responsibility
Event type	Conference
Location	Hobart, Australia, TasmaniaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International