College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Minnesota Duluth, 1201 Ordean Court, Duluth, MN 55812, USA.
College of Education and Human Service Professions, University of Minnesota Duluth, 1201 Ordean Court, Duluth, MN 55812, USA.
Nutrients. 2023 Mar 3;15(5):1271. doi: 10.3390/nu15051271.
Low-income families, especially those who reside in food deserts, face significant systemic barriers regarding their ability to access affordable and nutritious food. The food behaviors exhibited by low-income families are a reflection of the shortcomings of the built environment and conventional food system. Policy and public-health initiatives to improve food security have, thus far, failed to deliver interventions that simultaneously address multiple pillars of food security. Centering the voices of the marginalized and their place-based knowledge may result in the development of food-access solutions that are a much better fit for the population that they intend to serve. Community-based participatory research has emerged as a solution to better meet the needs of communities in food-systems innovation, but little is known about the extent to which direct participation improves nutritional outcomes. The purpose of this research is to answer the following question: how can food-access solutions authentically engage marginalized community members in food-system innovation, and if participation is related to changes in their food behaviors, how is it related? This action research project leveraged a mixed-methods approach to analyze nutritional outcomes and define the nature of participation for 25 low-income families who reside in a food desert. Our findings suggest that nutritional outcomes improve when major barriers to healthy food consumption are addressed, for example, time, education, and transportation. Furthermore, participation in social innovations can be characterized by the nature of involvement as either a producer or consumer, actively or inactively involved. We conclude that when marginalized communities are at the center of food-systems innovation, individuals self-select their level of participation, and when primary barriers are addressed, deeper participation in food-systems innovation is associated with positive changes in healthy food behaviors.
低收入家庭，尤其是那些居住在食品荒漠地区的家庭，在获取负担得起的营养食品方面面临着重大的系统性障碍。低收入家庭的食品行为反映了建筑环境和传统食品系统的缺陷。旨在改善粮食安全的政策和公共卫生举措，迄今为止未能提供同时解决粮食安全多个支柱的干预措施。将边缘化群体及其基于地点的知识置于中心位置，可能会制定出更适合其服务对象的粮食获取解决方案。以社区为基础的参与性研究已经成为更好地满足社区在食品系统创新方面需求的一种解决方案，但人们对直接参与在多大程度上可以改善营养结果知之甚少。本研究旨在回答以下问题：如何使粮食获取解决方案真正让边缘化社区成员参与到粮食系统创新中，如果参与与他们的粮食行为变化有关，那么这种关系是怎样的？这个行动研究项目利用混合方法来分析 25 个居住在食品荒漠地区的低收入家庭的营养结果，并确定参与的性质。我们的研究结果表明，当解决了健康食品消费的主要障碍时，例如时间、教育和交通，营养结果会得到改善。此外，参与社会创新可以通过参与的性质（生产者或消费者）、积极或消极参与来进行描述。我们得出的结论是，当边缘化社区成为粮食系统创新的中心时，个人会自行选择参与程度，而当主要障碍得到解决时，更深层次地参与粮食系统创新与健康食品行为的积极变化有关。
