Food aid professionals’ thoughts on the dignity of visitors while maintaining their own

The aim of this study was to reveal how professionals involved in food aid think about the dignity of visitors while maintaining their own. Ten food aid professionals participated in individual open semi-structured interviews. The theoretical concepts of dignity, discretion, self-presentation, and stigma were used in the analysis. In the professionals’ reasoning, four partly overlapping approaches emerged, labelled confirming, redirecting, conditioning, and explaining. The analysis showed that not only the visitors but also the professionals themselves were affected by the exposed situation of the visitors and by guarding the visitors’ dignity. Especially in times of austerity, more attention must be paid to the current conditions for food aid professionals to uphold the dignity of visitors while maintaining their own.