Innovative and culturally appropriate multilevel health communications interventions are desperately needed to address the chronic disease epidemic in high-risk populations, such as low-income urban African Americans (AA). However, the vast majority of communications strategies have focused on educating individual consumers about healthy food choices, while in poor urban settings the lower availability of affordable healthy food choices greatly limits the impact of these messages. We will work with 3 wholesalers and 24 small retail food stores to develop and test novel strategies in Baltimore, Maryland, including: 1) multilevel health communications alone directed at wholesalers, retailers and low-income AA consumers intended to enhance willingness to stock and/or purchase healthy foods;2) pricing strategies (performance based allowances) directed at wholesalers and retailers to increase their stocking of healthy foods at reduced prices;and 3) combined health communications and pricing strategies. Intervention strategies will be tailored to meet the needs of the target populations based on formative research and stakeholder input. Our proposed work is based on significant field experience in this setting, including the development of evaluation tools to assess change in stocking and pricing of key foods (at the store level), and psychosocial factors, dietary intake, and food purchasing behaviors (at the consumer level). Our study has the following aims: 1) Conduct formative research with representatives of multiple levels of the Baltimore food environment (i.e., local wholesalers and retail food store owners) in order to select key foods for promotion, determine appropriate communication strategies (e.g., messages, channels, materials) for each level, and select the most appropriate pricing approach (i.e., performance based allowance structure and stipulations). 2) Pilot the multi-level program with three wholesalers and 24 food stores (6 control, 6 health communications only, 6 pricing only, 6 combined), and assess program implementation through detailed process evaluation. 3) Assess impact of the pilot program on a) the stocking, pricing, marketing, and sales volume of promoted foods at wholesale and retail levels, and b) food purchasing behaviors and associated psychosocial variables (i.e., self-efficacy, intentions, perceived cost) at the consumer level (final sample n=12 consumers/store, 288 total). The proposed research directly addresses the objectives of the PA by seeking to develop effective, multilevel communication strategies to improve diet and reduce risk for diet-related chronic diseases. We anticipate this design will demonstrate the value of a multipronged and multilevel health communications approach to obesity and chronic disease prevention, and will lead to a large-scale trial and informed policies designed to improve food availability and affordability in low-income urban settings.

Public Health Relevance

The proposed study will develop and pilot an innovative multilevel communications intervention to improve the food environment at the wholesaler, retailer and consumer levels. Our interventions will combine both communications strategies and activities to improve access (i.e., prices and availability) to healthy foods in low- income urban settings. The interventions are aimed at ultimately reducing the prevalence of obesity among urban African Americans, which will greatly decrease rates of obesity-related chronic diseases and health care costs nationally.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Exploratory/Developmental Grants (R21)
Project #
1R21HL102812-01A1
Application #
8115552
Study Section
Community Influences on Health Behavior (CIHB)
Program Officer
Boyington, Josephine
Project Start
2011-06-01
Project End
2013-03-31
Budget Start
2011-06-01
Budget End
2012-03-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2011
Total Cost
$205,000
Indirect Cost
Name
Johns Hopkins University
Department
Public Health & Prev Medicine
Type
Schools of Public Health
DUNS #
001910777
City
Baltimore
State
MD
Country
United States
Zip Code
21218
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Mui, Yeeli; Jones-Smith, Jessica C; Thornton, Rachel L J et al. (2017) Relationships between Vacant Homes and Food Swamps: A Longitudinal Study of an Urban Food Environment. Int J Environ Res Public Health 14:
Mui, Yeeli; Gittelsohn, Joel; Jones-Smith, Jessica C (2017) Longitudinal Associations between Change in Neighborhood Social Disorder and Change in Food Swamps in an Urban Setting. J Urban Health 94:75-86
Budd, Nadine; Jeffries, Jayne K; Jones-Smith, Jessica et al. (2017) Store-directed price promotions and communications strategies improve healthier food supply and demand: impact results from a randomized controlled, Baltimore City store-intervention trial. Public Health Nutr 20:3349-3359
Budd, Nadine; Cuccia, Alison; Jeffries, Jayne K et al. (2015) B'More Healthy: Retail Rewards--design of a multi-level communications and pricing intervention to improve the food environment in Baltimore City. BMC Public Health 15:283
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Kharmats, Anna Y; Jones-Smith, Jessica C; Cheah, Yun Sang et al. (2014) Relation between the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program cycle and dietary quality in low-income African Americans in Baltimore, Maryland. Am J Clin Nutr 99:1006-14