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A growing body of literature identifies food insecurity (FI) as a critical social determinant of mental health. Across settings, quantitative studies report positive correlations between FI and mental distress, especially among women. Less understood are the pathways by which FI undermines women's mental well-being. To address this gap, we conducted six focus group discussions with 45 Nicaraguan mothers. Thematic analysis identified three themes linking the management of FI and maternal mental well-being in this setting. The theme, la lucha , underscored how the chronicity of FI served as a constant mental strain by demanding mothers strategize on a daily basis to resolve it. The themes " tranquility is a child with a full belly " and " the despairing and frustrated mother " emphasized how FI challenged women's abilities to fulfill the responsibilities of motherhood and served as a reminder of social status. Our findings advance earlier quantitative work by identifying how the management of food insecurity undermines maternal mental well-being in a low-middle income setting and indicate that policies aimed at combating food insecurity can concomitantly improve maternal mental well-being if they bolster women's agency and work to reduce the stigma associated with being food insecure.

Health infomediary systems are emerging as important knowledge sharing platforms that help patients manage their own health outside of traditional health care delivery models. Patients participate in health infomediaries to learn from other patients' experiences and knowledge. Knowledge sharing is an important aspect of the success of a health infomediary. Factors related to self-concept have been widely studied in the domains of psychiatry and psychology, in settings such as mental health and behavioural well-being, but remain unexplored in the digital health context. In particular, it is not known how self-concept influences knowledge sharing behaviours in health infomediaries. This study posits that self-efficacy, social identity, and self-stigma drive knowledge sharing in an infomediary through emotional empowerment and appearance-contingent self-esteem. We use the health belief model as a foundation to propose a two-stage model and testable hypotheses. We used secondary archival data of 222 patients participating in a health infomediary specialising in reconstructive surgery. Analyses using structural equation modelling and econometric methods support the hypotheses. Findings broadly suggest that there are distinct paths through emotional empowerment and appearance-contingent self-esteem that can motivate users to contribute knowledge in health infomediaries. We explain the managerial insights and contributions of our study., Competing Interests: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.