Healthy Options: A Community-Based Program to Address Food Insecurity

The objectives of this study are to better understand the lived experience of food insecurity in our community and to examine the impact of a community-based program developed to increase access to local, healthy foods. Participants were given monthly vouchers to spend at local farmers' markets...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of prevention & intervention in the community Vol. 43; no. 2; pp. 83 - 94
Main Authors:	Dailey, Amy B., Hess, Audrey, Horton, Camille, Constantian, Emily, Monani, Salma, Wargo, Betsy, Davidson, Kim, Gaskin, Kathy
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Routledge 03-04-2015 Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:	Action research Community Health Services - methods Community research Community-Based Participatory Research Consumer Behavior Consumption Farmers food insecurity Food security Food Supply Fruit Health Promotion - methods Health Surveys Hispanic Americans - psychology Hispanics Humans Markets Participatory research Pennsylvania Poverty qualitative research Social networks Social research Stress Vegetables Pennsylvania qualitative research food insecurity community-based participatory research Hispanics
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Summary:	The objectives of this study are to better understand the lived experience of food insecurity in our community and to examine the impact of a community-based program developed to increase access to local, healthy foods. Participants were given monthly vouchers to spend at local farmers' markets and invited to engage in a variety of community activities. Using a community-based participatory research framework, mixed methods were employed. Survey results suggest that most respondents were satisfied with the program and many increased their fruit and vegetable consumption. However, over 40% of respondents reported a higher level of stress over having enough money to buy nutritious meals at the end of the program. Photovoice results suggest that the program fostered cross-cultural exchanges, and offered opportunities for social networking. Building on the many positive outcomes of the program, community partners are committed to using this research to further develop policy-level solutions to food insecurity.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1085-2352 1540-7330
DOI:	10.1080/10852352.2015.973248