. 2016 Nov 10;20(5):902–916. doi: 10.1017/S1368980016002925

Table 2.

Experience-based indicators used by articles included in this meta-analysis

Indicator (reference)	Description	Recall period	Scoring and range	Classification
HFSSM Household Food Security Survey Module⁽ ⁸ ^, ⁶⁸ ⁾	Eighteen items (eight of which are specific to households with minors) A shortened six-item version of the module has been developed and validated	12 months (30 d has also been used)	Sum of affirmative responses Range: 0–10 for households without minors; 0–18 with minors	Households with one or more children: 0 points (high food security); 1–2 points (marginal food security); 3–7 points (low food security); and 8–18 points (very low food security) Households with no child present: 0 points (high food security); 1–2 points (marginal food security); 3–5 points (low food security); and 6–10 points (very low food security) Short-version: raw score 0–1 (high or marginal food security); raw score 2–4 (low food security); and raw score 5–6 (very low food security) Households with high or marginal food security (old label=food security) are classified as food secure. Those with low (old label=food insecurity without hunger) or very low food security (old label=food insecurity with hunger) are classified as food insecure
EBIA Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale⁽ ⁸ ^, ⁶⁹ ^, ⁷⁰ ⁾	Adapted from the HFSSM and validated through focus group research The first version resulting from the study conducted in 2003 had fifteen items. Currently EBIA is a fourteen-item scale (eight of which are specific to households with individuals under 18 years old)	3 months	Each affirmative answer receives 1 point Score range: 0–14	Households with (fourteen items) individuals under 18 years of age: food secure (0 points); mildly food insecure (1–5 points); moderately food insecure (6–9 points); and severe food insecurity (10–14 points) Households without (eight items) individuals under 18 years of age: food secure (0 points); mildly food insecure (1–3 points); moderately food insecure (4–5 points); and severe food insecurity (6–8 points)
HFIAS Household Food Insecurity Access Scale⁽ ² ^, ⁸ ^, ⁶¹ ⁾	Uses a set of questions that represents universal domains and subdomains of experiencing household food insecurity and more specifically lack of access to food	30 d	Sums responses to nine questions related to the occurrence of increasingly severe experiences of food shortage Four-level frequency response questions: ‘no occurrence’ is assigned a value of 0, ‘rarely’ a value of 1, ‘sometimes’ a value of 2 and ‘often’ a value of 3 Score from 0 to 27 is obtained	Food secure: experiences none of food insecurity conditions, or just experiences worry, but rarely Mildly food insecure: worries about not having enough food sometimes or often, and/or is unable to eat preferred food, and/or eats a more monotonous diet than desired and/or some food considered undesirable, but only rarely. They do not cut back on quantity nor experience any of the three most severe conditions (running out of food, going to bed hungry or going a whole day and night without eating) Moderately food insecure: sacrifices quality more frequently, by eating a monotonous diet or undesirable foods sometimes or often, and/or has started to cut back on quantity by reducing the size of meals, rarely or sometimes. But they do not experience any of the three most severe conditions Severely food insecure: has graduated to cutting back on meal size or number of meals often, and/or experiences any of the three most severe conditions (running out of food, going to bed hungry or going a whole day and night without eating), even as infrequently as rarely
CHFSS Colombia Household Food Security Survey⁽ ⁴⁶ ^, ⁷¹ ⁾	Twelve-item survey concerning the experiences of food insecurity as a result of financial constraint	6 months	Each item was followed by a frequency of occurrence question, which assessed how often a given condition occurred. A negative response to the initial item was scored as 0, and the follow-up questions were scored as ‘rarely’=1, ‘sometimes’=2 and ‘always’=3 Score range: 0–36	Classification: food secure (0 points); mildly food insecure (1–17 points); moderately food insecure (18–26 points); and severe food insecurity (27–36 points)
CCHS Canadian Community Health Survey⁽ ³¹ ⁾	Assesses the food security of adults and children separately Contains ten adult-referenced items (Adult Food Security Scale) and eight child-referenced questions (Child Food Security Scale)	12 months	Sum of affirmative responses In contrast to the HFSSM, which uses three or more affirmative responses as a basis for the classification of a household as food insecure, the Canadian version uses a less strict classification of two or more affirmative responses	Ten-item adult food security scale: food secure (0–1 affirmative responses); food insecure–moderate (2–5 affirmative affirmed responses); and food insecure–severe (≥6 affirmative responses) Eight-item child food security scale: food secure (0–1 affirmative responses); food insecure–moderate (2–4 affirmative responses); and food insecure–severe (≥5 affirmative responses)
ELCSA Latin American and Caribbean Household Food Security Scale⁽ ⁸ ⁾	Based on scales used and trialled in Venezuela, Brazil and Colombia, and stemming from the HFSSM. Intended for use in Latin America and the Caribbean Fifteen-item survey	3 months	Sum of the number of affirmative responses	Classification: 0=food secure; 1–3 (no minors)/1–5 (minors)=mildly food insecure; 4–6/6–10=moderately food insecure; 7–8/11–15=severely food insecure