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Background: Household food insecurity (HFI) is a serious public health concern in Lebanon. Adverse mental health issues have been reported among food insecure households in addition to physical and nutritional complications. Caregivers in food insecure families tend to adopt different coping mechanisms to mitigate the effects of food insecurity (FI) on their children. Objective: This cross-sectional observational study aimed to explore the relationship between FI, maternal depression, child malnutrition, and differential coping mechanisms adopted by mothers. Methods: A total of 219 women were enrolled in this study; FI was assessed using the household food insecurity assessment (HFIAS), maternal depression using the patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9), and their children's nutritional status through recall of anthropometric measurements. Pearson's correlations and logistic regressions were performed to evaluate the associations between HFI, maternal depression, and children's nutritional status. Results: A strong positive correlation between HFI and maternal depression (p = 0.001) and children's nutritional status (p = 0.008) was shown. Logistic regressions revealed that being food secure decreased the risk of maternal depression (OR = 0.328, 95% CI 0.125–0.863, p = 0.024), while it did not predict children's nutritional status. Eight main themes related to coping mechanisms were identified. Conclusions: This study highlights the understudied relationship between food insecurity and maternal depression, showing an increased prevalence of HFI among residents in Lebanon with a positive correlation with increased maternal depression. Further investigation is warranted to better explore how to mitigate the negative impact of food insecurity on mental health, maternal nutritional needs, and Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices in Lebanon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been previously established that sexual minorities are more likely to suffer from mental health illnesses due to experiencing unique stressors such as fear, anxiety, stigma, harassment, and prejudice. Results revealed two noteworthy mental health disorders reported by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals, disordered eating behaviors and disturbed body image. Yet, a-priori studies revealed inconsistent results with regards to body image concerns and eating disorder symptoms and attitudes among sexual minorities. Therefore, this cross-sectional study aimed at investigating the occurrence of disordered eating behaviors (DEB) and body image disturbance (BID) among sexual minorities in Lebanon. Additionally, the correlation between several determinants of DEB and BID including fear of negative evaluation, generalized anxiety, social support, and harassment levels have been examined. Generally, the present study revealed that LGBTQ population scored higher than cisgender and heterosexual individuals for the mean and global scores of the EDE-Q6.0 and BAS-2. Only generalized anxiety and fear of negative evaluation scales were significantly associated with DEB and BID among different sexual orientation and gender identity individuals. Therefore, it is very important that health professionals working with such vulnerable populations meticulously assess for disordered eating behaviors and body image disturbance for better communication and management. Plain English Summary: Sexual minorities are individuals who are more likely to experience mental health illnesses due to their increased experiences of social stresses, such as stigma, discrimination, prejudice, and fear of rejection. Two of the common mental health illnesses lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals develop are eating disorders and disturbed body image. Eating disorders and body image concerns are serious mental health illnesses with the likelihood of progressing into life-threatening conditions. Behavioral characteristics of eating disorders can be seen as binge eating episodes, extreme dieting, and inappropriate compensatory behaviors such as fasting, self-induced vomiting, excessive exercise, laxative or diuretic misuse, and or misuse of other "weight loss/diet" pills. Disordered eating patterns and body image concerns are multifactorial and complex, involving a wide range of psychological, sociocultural, and biological determinants. The current study is one of the few observational studies that tackle sexual minority health related issues, specifically investigate the presence and determinants of body image disturbances and disordered eating behaviors in gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals compared to heterosexual and/or cis-gender population in Lebanon. The study findings suggest a potential higher risk of disorder eating behaviors and body image disturbances among sexual and gender minorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]