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Understanding SNAP Recipient Characteristics to Guide Equitable Expansion of Nutrition Incentive Programs in Diverse Food Retail Settings

Structural barriers, such as food costs, reduce access to healthy foods for populations with limited income, including those benefitting from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Nutrition incentive programs seek to address this barrier. Evaluations of SNAP-based incentive programmi...

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Autores principales: Vargo, Lauren, Ciesielski, Timothy H., Embaye, Milen, Bird, Ana, Freedman, Darcy A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9101614/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35564371
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19094977
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author Vargo, Lauren
Ciesielski, Timothy H.
Embaye, Milen
Bird, Ana
Freedman, Darcy A.
author_facet Vargo, Lauren
Ciesielski, Timothy H.
Embaye, Milen
Bird, Ana
Freedman, Darcy A.
author_sort Vargo, Lauren
collection PubMed
description Structural barriers, such as food costs, reduce access to healthy foods for populations with limited income, including those benefitting from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Nutrition incentive programs seek to address this barrier. Evaluations of SNAP-based incentive programming often focus on one setting (i.e., either farmers’ markets or grocery stores). We examined use patterns, characteristics, and preferences among 253 SNAP consumers with access to incentive programming at both a farmers’ market and a grocery store located within five miles of their home. Cross-sectional survey data were collected in 2019 in two Ohio cities. Despite geographic access, 45% of those surveyed were not using the incentive program; most non-users (80.5%) were unaware of the program. Program users compared to non-users had higher household incomes (p < 0.001) and knew more people using the program (p < 0.001). Grocery stores were the most common setting of use (59%); 29% used at farmers’ markets; 11% used in both settings. User characteristics varied by store setting based on demographics, program experience, fruit and vegetable purchasing and consumption patterns, and social dynamics related to use. Our findings support comprehensive awareness-raising efforts and tailored implementation of incentive programming that attends to diverse segments of SNAP consumers to promote equity in program reach.
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spelling pubmed-91016142022-05-14 Understanding SNAP Recipient Characteristics to Guide Equitable Expansion of Nutrition Incentive Programs in Diverse Food Retail Settings Vargo, Lauren Ciesielski, Timothy H. Embaye, Milen Bird, Ana Freedman, Darcy A. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Structural barriers, such as food costs, reduce access to healthy foods for populations with limited income, including those benefitting from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Nutrition incentive programs seek to address this barrier. Evaluations of SNAP-based incentive programming often focus on one setting (i.e., either farmers’ markets or grocery stores). We examined use patterns, characteristics, and preferences among 253 SNAP consumers with access to incentive programming at both a farmers’ market and a grocery store located within five miles of their home. Cross-sectional survey data were collected in 2019 in two Ohio cities. Despite geographic access, 45% of those surveyed were not using the incentive program; most non-users (80.5%) were unaware of the program. Program users compared to non-users had higher household incomes (p < 0.001) and knew more people using the program (p < 0.001). Grocery stores were the most common setting of use (59%); 29% used at farmers’ markets; 11% used in both settings. User characteristics varied by store setting based on demographics, program experience, fruit and vegetable purchasing and consumption patterns, and social dynamics related to use. Our findings support comprehensive awareness-raising efforts and tailored implementation of incentive programming that attends to diverse segments of SNAP consumers to promote equity in program reach. MDPI 2022-04-20 /pmc/articles/PMC9101614/ /pubmed/35564371 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19094977 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Vargo, Lauren
Ciesielski, Timothy H.
Embaye, Milen
Bird, Ana
Freedman, Darcy A.
Understanding SNAP Recipient Characteristics to Guide Equitable Expansion of Nutrition Incentive Programs in Diverse Food Retail Settings
title Understanding SNAP Recipient Characteristics to Guide Equitable Expansion of Nutrition Incentive Programs in Diverse Food Retail Settings
title_full Understanding SNAP Recipient Characteristics to Guide Equitable Expansion of Nutrition Incentive Programs in Diverse Food Retail Settings
title_fullStr Understanding SNAP Recipient Characteristics to Guide Equitable Expansion of Nutrition Incentive Programs in Diverse Food Retail Settings
title_full_unstemmed Understanding SNAP Recipient Characteristics to Guide Equitable Expansion of Nutrition Incentive Programs in Diverse Food Retail Settings
title_short Understanding SNAP Recipient Characteristics to Guide Equitable Expansion of Nutrition Incentive Programs in Diverse Food Retail Settings
title_sort understanding snap recipient characteristics to guide equitable expansion of nutrition incentive programs in diverse food retail settings
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9101614/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35564371
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19094977
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