1. Project: “Using a Smartphone App to Improve WIC Redemptions” Recruitment Training for APP Site
Old Dominion University
Trainer NAME: Marilyn Bartholmae
Trainer
Trainer Cell Phone: (360)

2. Introduction
Goal: To test whether a WIC app can help participants redeem benefits?
What the app will do?
Scan the bar code to check eligibility
An adaptive calculator to redeem fruits and vegetable & breakfast cereal benefits

3. Origin of the Problems A Challenging Question
How fast can you find a preferable combination of fruits and vegetables (F&Vs) with total costs smaller than a given budget (e.g., $8.00, $5.53, $2.11)?

4. Origin of the Problems
More Challenging: Given different brands & box sizes (11~36 oz.), find a preferable combination of cereal boxes with the brands in the list and total weights < a given # of oz. (e.g., 36 oz., 17oz.)?

5. Challenges to WIC Participants
VA WIC participants’ redemption barriers
Difficulty in processing complicated information
Difficulty in identifying eligible products
Current solution is not sufficient to overcome the barriers

6. Our solution: WIC App
A promising solution is an app that will help to find a preferred combination of fruits and vegetables with ease.

7. Let’s try it out! Search “WICShopper” in the app store
Download it and have fun with it!
Select “Virginia”
Enter FamilyID “F ”
It’s only a test version. Don’t tell anybody else except the enrolled participants

8. Fruit and Vegetable Calculator Cereal Calculator Scanning Barcode
More Cool functions
Fruit and Vegetable Calculator
Cereal Calculator
Scanning Barcode
To check WIC eligibility
Healthy Recipes

9. Key Question to Answer: Is the WIC app effective?
Pilot Project launched by ODU and VA WIC
If successful, state implementation likely
YOUR JOB IS CRUCIAL AND MAY AFFECT TENS OF THOUSANDS OF WIC FAMILIES

10. Your Job: Recruitment Recruit 50 participants per district
Who are eligible? (File: APP_F1_Intro)
Have a Smartphone
Have Fruit & Vegetable and Cereal Benefit
Participant is the primary WIC shopper
“Shall I recruit ANY 50 participants?”
E.g. recruit 50 participants in one day?
NO! The recruitment should be “balanced”

11. Recruiting Goal: 50 participants (Balanced)
Select a Main Clinic (Where District Coordinator is)
No more than 5 participants enrolled per day.
recruited in both the morning and the afternoon.
Based on the number of WIC participating women and the number of WIC participating infants/children in the household
Five categories in the Tracking Sheet (File: App_F2_Track)
Women Only WIC Children =0, WIC Women=1 (NEED 5)
Child Only WIC Children =1
WIC Women = 0 (NEED 18)
Women &Child WIC Children = 1,
WIC Women ==1 (NEED 15)
Children Only WIC Children>=2, WIC Women =0 (NEED 4)
Women & Children
WIC Children >=2,
WIC Women =1 (NEED 8)

12. How to do the recruitment?
Five Steps
Step 1: Introduction & screening
Step 2: Informed consent
Step 3: Download and use the app
Step 4: Baseline survey
Step 5: $10 gift card

13. Step 1: Introduction & Screening
Print and put an introduction sheet on your desk and show it to the participants.
File: App_F1_Intro
“Are you interested in the study?”
If yes, check the eligibility
“Have a Smartphone”?
“Have fruit and vegetable benefit AND cereal benefits?”
“Are you the primary WIC shopper?”
If yes to all questions, check the quota to be met
File: App_F2_Track

14. Step 2: Informed consent
Check the time availability for all steps first
“Do you have approximately 10~15 minutes?”
Since you don’t want to discontinue the in the middle of the process
Go through the Informed Consent with patience
File: App_F3_Consent
Ask them to sign two copies of the consent and YOU need to sign them as well
Keep one copy for site coordinator (your supervisor) and give one copy to the participant

15. Step 3. Download and Use the App
Present the App Guide to the subject
File: App_F4_Guide
Ask them to download the app
Possible question from the participant:
“Use my data plan to download?”
Answer: It requires very little data and $10 gift card is enough to cover!

16. Step 3. Download and Use the App
Exercise 1: Scan the bar code
Prepare two food boxes
One is WIC eligible, the other is not
Ask the participant to scan the barcodes
“Could you tell which one is eligible and which one is not?”

17. Step 3. Download and Use the App
Exercise 2: Use Fruit and Vegetable Calculator
Given $8 balance
Can I buy the following?
2 pounds of broccoli +
1 watermelon +
2 cucumber
Play with a few more scenario

18. Step 3. Download and Use the App
Exercise 3: Use Cereal Calculator
Prepare a few cereal boxes
Ideally, some boxes are eligible and some are not eligible
Given the balance of 36 ounces
“How many boxes can you buy?”
“What kind of brands can you buy?”
Play with a few more scenario

19. Step 4. Complete a Survey
To participants
“Congratulations, you are almost there!”
Prepare a hard copy of the survey
File: App_F5_Survey
WIC staff: please fill out survey for training.
Allocate space for participants to complete the survey
Encourage questions to ensure the quality of the survey
Quality control: CHECK the completion of the survey, especially the first page

20. Step 5: Give the $10 gift card
“Thank you so much for your support!”
Check the signature of informed consent
Check the survey
Check the Tracking Table (File: App_F2_Track)
Return the signed informed consent and survey back to your site coordinator
If scan needed, please scan it to PDF file
Congratulations, you completed one recruit!

21. A Few Things to Mention Non-disclosure Voluntarily Recruitment
The app is in testing mode
Don’t tell other parties who are not in the study
Voluntarily Recruitment
No coercion
Explain the informed consent
Protect the privacy

22. Learning by Doing It’s your show time!
Mock recruitment with your peers
Use the check list as a helper
File: App_F6_Checklist
Complete the training certificate
File: App_F7_Training
it back to Project Coordinator, Dr. Marilyn Bartholmae,
Questions? Cell:

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