Engler-Stringer Rachel, Muhajarine Nazeem, Ridalls Tracy, Abonyi Sylvia, Vatanparast Hassan, Whiting Susan, Walker Ryan
Community Health and Epidemiology and Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
JMIR Res Protoc. 2016 Apr 14;5(2):e52. doi: 10.2196/resprot.5303.
This is a 2-year study to assess the early impacts of a new grocery store intervention in a former food desert.
The purpose of the study is to understand the early health effects of the introduction of a large-scale food and nutrition-focused community-based population health intervention, the Good Food Junction (GFJ) Cooperative Store, in a geographically bounded group of socially disadvantaged neighborhoods (the "core neighborhoods") in a midsized Canadian city. The GFJ grocery store was tasked with improving the access of residents to healthy, affordable food. The 5 research questions are: (1) What is the awareness and perception of the GFJ store among residents of the core neighborhoods? (2) Are there differences in awareness and perception among those who do and do not shop at the GFJ? (3) Will healthy food purchasing at the GFJ by residents of the core neighborhoods change over time, and what purchases are these individuals making at this store? (4) What early impact(s) will the GFJ have on key health-related outcomes (such as household food security status, vegetable and fruit intake, key aspects of self-reported mental health, self-reported health)? and (5) Are the effects of the intervention seen for specific vulnerable population groups, such as Aboriginal people, seniors (65 years old or older) and new immigrants (settled in Saskatoon for less than 5 years)?
The research project examined initial impacts of the GFJ on the health of the residents in surrounding neighborhoods through a door-to-door cross-sectional survey of food access and household demographics; an examination of GFJ sales data by location of shoppers' residences; and a 1-year, 3-time-point longitudinal study of self-reported health of GFJ shoppers.
Analyses are on-going, but preliminary results show that shoppers are using the store for its intended purpose, which is to improve access to healthy food in a former food desert.
To our knowledge this is the first large-scale study of a full-service grocery store intervention in a former food desert in Canada that has used multiple data sources, as well as longitudinal analyses, to examine its effects. Its findings will contribute significantly to the knowledge base on food environment interventions.
这是一项为期两年的研究，旨在评估一家新杂货店干预措施对以前的食品荒漠地区的早期影响。
本研究的目的是了解在加拿大一个中等城市中，在地理上有限的一群社会弱势社区（“核心社区”）引入一项以食品和营养为重点的大规模社区人口健康干预措施——优质食品枢纽（GFJ）合作商店后，其早期对健康的影响。GFJ杂货店的任务是改善居民获取健康、实惠食品的机会。五个研究问题如下：（1）核心社区居民对GFJ商店的知晓度和认知如何？（2）在GFJ购物和不在GFJ购物的人群在知晓度和认知上是否存在差异？（3）核心社区居民在GFJ购买健康食品的情况是否会随时间变化，以及这些人在该商店购买了哪些食品？（4）GFJ将对关键的健康相关结果（如家庭食品安全状况、蔬菜和水果摄入量、自我报告的心理健康关键方面、自我报告的健康状况）产生哪些早期影响？以及（5）干预措施对特定弱势群体，如原住民、老年人（65岁及以上）和新移民（在萨斯卡通定居不到5年）是否有效果？
该研究项目通过对食品获取和家庭人口统计信息进行挨家挨户的横断面调查，研究GFJ对周边社区居民健康的初步影响；根据购物者居住地点对GFJ销售数据进行分析；以及对GFJ购物者自我报告的健康状况进行为期1年、分3个时间点的纵向研究。
分析正在进行中，但初步结果表明，购物者正在按照该商店的预期用途使用它，即在以前的食品荒漠地区改善获取健康食品的机会。
据我们所知，这是加拿大首次对以前的食品荒漠地区进行的全方位杂货店干预措施的大规模研究，该研究使用了多种数据来源以及纵向分析来检验其效果。其研究结果将对食品环境干预措施的知识库做出重大贡献。
