Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior
Publisher
Elsevier Inc.
Publication Date
1-8-2020
First Page
1
Last Page
25
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Abstract
Objective
Explore factors affecting access to and use of Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB), a farmers’ market program that doubles Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for use toward the purchase of fruits and vegetables (FV).
Design
Focus groups.
Setting
Metro and nonmetro counties in Utah and western Upstate New York.
Participants
Nine groups composed of 62 low-income adults (3–9/group).
Phenomena of Interest
Satisfaction with, barriers to, and facilitators of program use; suggestions for improvement.
Analysis
Transcribed verbatim and coded thematically in NVivo 11 software according to template analysis.
Results
Program satisfaction was high and driven by FV affordability, perceived support of local farmers, positive market experiences, and high-quality FV. Primary barriers to using DUFB were lack of program information and inconvenient accessibility. Insufficient program communication was a consistent problem that elicited numerous suggestions regarding expansion of program marketing. Emergent topics included issues related to the token-based administration of DUFB and debate regarding stigma experienced during DUFB participation.
Conclusions and Implications
Results suggest that although DUFB elicits many points of satisfaction among users, program reach may be limited owing to insufficient program marketing. Even among satisfied users, discussion of barriers was extensive, indicating that program reach and impact may be bolstered by efforts to improve program accessibility.
Recommended Citation
Jennifer A. Garner, Casey Coombs, Mateja R. Savoie-Roskos, Carrie Durward, and Rebecca A. Seguin-Fowler, A qualitative evaluation of double up food bucks farmers market incentive program access, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior (2020).
