Abstract
Objectives: To evaluate the outcomes of increasing mobile market service from mostly biweekly in 2019 to weekly in 2021. Design: Repeated, cross-sectional customer intercept surveys. Sample: Mobile market customers in Summers 2019 (N = 302) and 2021 (N = 72). Intervention: Mobile food markets bring affordable, high-quality foods to communities that lack such access. Measures/analysis: Outcomes included food security, fruit/vegetable intake, and food-related characteristics and behaviors. General linear and logistic regression models were used to assess associations between outcomes and survey year and length of mobile market shopping. Models were adjusted for economic assistance use, race, and ethnicity. Results: No outcomes were significantly different between 2019 (with mostly biweekly service) and 2021 (with weekly service). Length of mobile market shopping (e.g., >2 years, 1–2 years, etc.) was positively associated with affordable, quality food access (β = 0.20, SE = 0.10, p =.03) and fruit/vegetable intake (β = 0.28, SE = 0.08, p <.001) as well as lower odds of food insecurity in the last 12 months (aOR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.64, 0.99). Conclusions: Despite COVID-19 interrupting scheduled market service, the length of time that a survey respondent identified as a full-service mobile market customer was associated with higher food access and fruit/vegetable intake and reduced food insecurity odds. These findings suggest promise and encourage further evaluation.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 603-611 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Public Health Nursing |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 1 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We are grateful to all Mobile Market customers for their time completing the surveys. We would like to acknowledge the support and leadership of Sophia Lenarz-Coy, Executive Director of The Food Group, the organization that runs the Mobile Market. We would also like to acknowledge the volunteer research interns who collected data at the Mobile Stops including Abdirahman Hassan, Allison Krueger, Kelly Kruse, Brian Lee, Hiba Minhas, Anna Ribbens, Anthony Ruiz, Mackenzie Schara, and Kari Swanson. This research was funded by a National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant of the United States Department of Agriculture (NIFA2017-0275; Project Director: Porter, Subcontract-PI of the Research: Horning). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Additionally, data collection for this study was assisted by a Pathways to Research Program (PReP) Scholar and REDCap Software, which were supported by the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, grant UL1TR002494. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. This work supported in part by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development, and the Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety (CIN 13-413). The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States government.
Funding Information:
We are grateful to all Mobile Market customers for their time completing the surveys. We would like to acknowledge the support and leadership of Sophia Lenarz‐Coy, Executive Director of The Food Group, the organization that runs the Mobile Market. We would also like to acknowledge the volunteer research interns who collected data at the Mobile Stops including Abdirahman Hassan, Allison Krueger, Kelly Kruse, Brian Lee, Hiba Minhas, Anna Ribbens, Anthony Ruiz, Mackenzie Schara, and Kari Swanson. This research was funded by a National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant of the United States Department of Agriculture (NIFA2017‐0275; Project Director: Porter, Subcontract‐PI of the Research: Horning). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Additionally, data collection for this study was assisted by a Pathways to Research Program (PReP) Scholar and REDCap Software, which were supported by the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, grant UL1TR002494. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. This work supported in part by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development, and the Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety (CIN 13‐413). The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States government.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.
Keywords
- CBPR
- food security
- fruit and vegetable intake
- mobile markets
- underserved populations
