Healthy Foods, Healthy Families: combining incentives and exposure interventions at urban farmers’ markets to improve nutrition among recipients of US federal food assistance
Citation
Bowling, April B., Mikayla Moretti, Kayla Ringelheim, Alvin Tran, and Kirsten Davison. 2016. “Healthy Foods, Healthy Families: combining incentives and exposure interventions at urban farmers’ markets to improve nutrition among recipients of US federal food assistance.” Health Promotion Perspectives 6 (1): 10-16. doi:10.15171/hpp.2016.02. http://dx.doi.org/10.15171/hpp.2016.02.Abstract
Background: Healthy Foods, Healthy Families (HFHF) is a fruit and vegetable (F&V) exposure/incentive program implemented at farmers’ markets in low-income neighborhoods, targeting families receiving US federal food assistance. We examined program effects on participants’ diet and associations between attendance, demographics and dietary change. Methods: Exposure activities included F&V tastings and cooking demonstrations. Incentives included 40% F&V bonus for electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card users and $20 for use purchasing F&V at every third market visit. Self-report surveys measuring nutritional behaviors/literacy were administered to participants upon enrollment (n = 425, 46.2% Hispanic, 94.8%female). Participants were sampled for follow-up at markets during mid-season (n = 186) and at season end (n = 146). Attendance was tracked over 16 weeks. Results: Participants post-intervention reported significantly higher vegetable consumption(P = 0.005) and lower soda consumption (P = 0.005). Participants reporting largest F&V increases attended the market 6-8 times and received $40 in incentives. No change in food assistance spent on F&V (P = 0.94); 70% reported significant increases in family consumption of F&V,indicating subsidies increased overall F&V purchasing. Participants reported exposure activities and incentives similarly affected program attendance. Conclusion: Interventions combining exposure activities and modest financial incentives at farmers’ markets in low-income neighborhoods show strong potential to improve diet quality of families receiving federal food assistance.Other Sources
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4847109/pdf/Terms of Use
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