Evaluating Healthy Food Retail in Low-Income Urban Neighbourhoods L.M. Minaker, C. L. Mah, B.E. Cook May 29, 2014 CPHA 2014

Background Food environments are (probably) important for health Healthy food retail interventions may hold promise for improving diet

Over 500 measures exist!

Intervention

Study design OXOOOOXOOOO O O O

Evaluation Components Process evaluation Impact evaluation (environmental impact) Impact evaluation (individual/ household impact) Dose and reach of interventions Fidelity of HCS and MGFM implementation (including formative adaptations) Neighbourhood and municipal policy context Change in neighbourhood food environments Change in diets, attitudes, and purchasing patterns of community residents

Evaluation Design Sample: – low-income, adult apartment residents in Toronto. Predominantly newcomers. Mixed-methods: 3 neighbourhoods – Qualitative Pre-intervention focus groups with residents Post-intervention interviews with stakeholders – Quantitative Pre-post, controlled, quasi-experimental design Questionnaires and Web-based 24-diet recalls at Pre and Post Sales data (Point-of-Sale) throughout Neighbourhood food retail quality

Individual-level Assessment ASA24 Food Insecurity Food Purchasing Food environment perceptions Socio- demographic Food preferences & skills

Store-level Assessment

Neighbourhood-level Assessment Promotoras

Additional Observations Qualitative Observations – Focus groups – Interviews with stakeholders

Conclusions Population health intervention research is fairly new Interdisciplinary approaches are crucial for understanding the unanticipated outcomes and diverse impacts It’s time to move beyond assessment in public health

Acknowledgements Dr. Catherine Mah Dr. Brian Cook

The Propel Centre for Population Health Impact was founded by the Canadian Cancer Society and the University of Waterloo.