An Urban Food Store Intervention Positively Affects Food-Related Psychosocial Variables and Food Behaviors

• Published in: Health education & behavior 2010-06, Vol.37 (3), p.390-402
• Main Authors: Gittelsohn, Joel, Song, Hee-Jung, Suratkar, Sonali, Kumar, Mohan B., Henry, Elizabeth G., Sharma, Sangita, Mattingly, Megan, Anliker, Jean A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; African Americans; African Americans - psychology; Baltimore; Behavior Change; Biological and medical sciences; Choice Behavior; Chronic illnesses; Comparative Analysis; Cooking; Diet; Female; Food; Food Handling; Food Preferences - ethnology; Food Preferences - psychology; Food preparation; Food Service; Health Education; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health Promotion; Healthy food; Humans; Incidence; Income; Intention; Intervention; Life Style; Low Income; Low income areas; Low income groups; Low income people; Male; Maryland; Materials selection; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Nutrition; Nutrition education; Nutrition Instruction; Nutritive Value; Obesity; Obesity - prevention & control; Poverty Areas; Prevention and actions; Program Effectiveness; Promotion; Psychosocial factors; Psychosocial intervention; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Purchasing; Regression (Statistics); Retailing; Self Efficacy; Signs; Supermarkets; Urban Areas; Urban Population
• ISSN: 1090-1981; 1552-6127
• DOI: 10.1177/1090198109343886

Obesity and other diet-related chronic diseases are more prevalent in low-income urban areas, which commonly have limited access to healthy foods. The authors implemented an intervention trial in nine food stores, including two supermarkets and seven corner stores, in a low-income, predominantly African American area of Baltimore City, with a comparison group of eight stores in another low-income area of the city. The intervention (Baltimore Healthy Stores; BHS) included an environmental component to increase stocks of more nutritious foods and provided point-of-purchase promotions including signage for healthy choices and interactive nutrition education sessions. Using pre- and postassessments, the authors evaluated the impact of the program on 84 respondents sampled from the intervention and comparison areas. Exposure to intervention materials was modest in the intervention area, and overall healthy food purchasing scores, food knowledge, and self-efficacy did not show significant improvements associated with intervention status. However, based on adjusted multivariate regression results, the BHS program had a positive impact on healthfulness of food preparation methods and showed a trend toward improved intentions to make healthy food choices. Respondents in the intervention areas were significantly more likely to report purchasing promoted foods because of the presence of a BHS shelf label. This is the first food store intervention trial in low-income urban communities to show positive impacts at the consumer level.