Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:The intervention activities of the project, "Realizing a Community's Collective Impact to Improve Fruit and Vegetable Consumption" (or, "Collective Community Impact" (CCI)) occurred within a Wilmington, DE community situated within a ¼-mile radius of the West End Neighborhood House. Almost all residents of this area are either African-American (48%) or White (46%); 20% are also of Hispanic ethnicity. These residents are primarily of typical working age with 67% between 18-65 years old. Annual incomes are low; 24% earn less than $25,000 and 31% earn between $25,000 to $49,999. The CCI project's control area was also defined by a circle with a radius of ¼ mile located in Bear, DE, approximately 13 miles from the Wilmington, DE intervention community where no project-related activities were expected to occur. The control area is demographically similar to the Wilmington intervention area: the majority of its residents are either African-American (41%) or White (44%); 34% are also of Hispanic ethnicity. Fifty-seven percent of these residents are primarily of typical working age between 18-65 years old. Annual incomes of are low; 34% earn less than $25,000 and 22% earn between $25,000 to $49,999. Changes/Problems:The sole and major project change related to the timing and extent of the planned research activities. Specifically, the project as proposed would have had adequate time to conduct three rounds of FV saturation during Delaware's growing season; as planned, lettuce, cucumbers, and apples were to be the foci. However, due to the timing of the research award, only two rounds of saturation were possible within growing season constraints so the foci were changed to tomatoes and apples. Otherwise, CCI natural experiment-based research design was implemented as proposed: (1) the same FV-specific questions in the baseline survey were asked at each subsequent survey administrations to measure change in consumption in the intervention area respondents when compared to control area respondents; (2) total FV consumption was included in the both the baseline and post-intervention surveys, similarly, to measure total consumption change between intervention and control; and, (3) a process evaluation was conducted. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Newsletters sent to both CCI partners and Advisory Community were the principal mechanism for dissemination of project results. Dissemination during the project included an article published in the Delaware Journal of Public Health and a scholarly poster presentation. As previously noted, CCI's Tastimals-themed nutrition, health, and culinary materials have been re-designed and disseminated to CCI partners for use in their ongoing efforts. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Under its established goals, CCI achieved most short-term impacts and at least one medium-term impact. Pursuant to Goal 1, the Tastimals-themed tomato and apple nutrition, health, and culinary materials were highly visible during the project's two saturation periods, achieved through a variety of previously-cited mechanisms. CCI partners used the same materials during the same 30-day saturation activity period, both streamlining their work, and increasing their understanding of and utilization of the collective impact process. Further and since many of the partners' work is with children, partners noted the Tastimals' theme as an inherent appeal to their audience. Finally, as specifically indicated by CCI partner Westside Family Health, the availability of tomato or apple samples, which were accompanied by the Tastimals-themed tomato or apple nutrition, health, and culinary materials, also generated interest in purchasing/consuming produce: "So, the days that the produce was on the table and the farm stand was [also] there, people really bought produce. So, they took the sample, asked where they could buy it, and then could get it right there." Regarding the project goal of increasing FV consumption (measured in cups per day) and unfortunately, no statistically significant change in this outcome variable was found. This result is principally attributable to small sample size, since only a total of only 44 participants (Wilmington, n=26; Bear, n=18) who completed the baseline survey also completed the post-intervention survey. Regardless, these results were shared with all partners through the newsletters and meetings described herein. As evidenced by the previously cited response numbers, collecting mid-study and post-intervention data via text messaging proved to be a less-than-effective way to reach participants. This is in spite of text reminders, postcards, and incentives; further, it disproves our hypothesis that the common use of cell phones among the populations residing within the intervention and control areas would facilitate survey responses. Pursuant to CCI's second goal, the project brought together multiple, community-based partners who in some cases and prior to the project, were aware of each other's work but had not yet collaborated. This changed as a result of project implementation; for example, and with leadership by CCI partner St. Francis Hospital, the "Healthy Kids, Brighter Futures" event brought together several CCI partners at one time, exposing intervention area residents to multiple sources of healthy-eating information and services in a fun setting. Previously, these same partners would likely have planned an event hosted by their own agency. Newsletter and email communication included foci on the data collected, what it measured, and how it could be used in a collective impact setting. Further, and as documented by CCI partners' feedback during the process evaluation, the appeal of the Tastimals characters was widespread - so much so that a small amount of remaining grant funds was utilized to create 'generic' Tastimals-themed nutrition, health, and culinary materials for use beyond the CCI project. At partners' request, these materials show the Tastimals characters delivering a bilingual healthy eating message utilizing commonly available, and, in many cases, Delaware-grown FVs. Consistent with CCI's final objective, interviews conducted with CCI's partners as part of the process evaluation indicated that more than half would participate in a similar project in the future, and an even stronger majority stated that the Tastimals-themed nutrition, health, and culinary materials were both easy to obtain and to incorporate into their daily activities. For example, one partner stated, "I've been engaged in different partnerships and activities with other partners across the last eight years or so at Westside, and I would say this is probably the easiest partnership engagement that we've ever had." However, the majority of CCI's partners wished for more communication between them, facilitated by UD-CRESP. Sentiment was also expressed regarding the short length of the project, as evidenced by this statement from one partner: "The effort was great, however it was very short-lived." The process evaluation also surveyed, using a bilingual tool, a convenience sample of members of both the intervention and control communities regarding the Tastimals characters. A five-step Likert scale collected data regarding the respondent's opinion of the two Tastimals characters used in CCI. On average, the vast majority of the total sample (86.8%) rated the characters as Very Much (60.2%) or Somewhat (26.6%) eye-catching, child-friendly, and having attractive colors, while 4.2% were Undecided. Nine percent of the respondents had negative opinions regarding the Tastimal characters (6.2% did Not Really Like; 2.8% did Not Like at all). An additional question asked whether the respondent had previously seen either of the Tastimals characters. On average, more than twice the number of respondents from the Wilmington intervention area (17.0%) had seen either character than had respondents from the Bear control area (6.5%), indicating that the saturation efforts had some effectiveness. However, the relatively high percentages of respondents who had not seen either character (Wilmington, 73.5%; Bear, 88.0%) is consistent with the shortened nature of the CCI project (i.e., two 30-day saturation activity periods of FV saturation instead of the planned three). Relatively low percentages of the respondents, on average, were not sure whether they had seen either character (Wilmington, 9.5%; Bear, 5.5%). The final component of the process evaluation involved observation of intervention area community members interacting with the Tastimals-themed nutrition, health, and culinary materials. Of those observed, 12% walked over to, picked up, touched, or took the free materials with them. Of these direct interactions, the majority were by female adults. The interaction rate is consistent with this comment from a CCI partner's interview, "I wish I could have found a better way to get people engaged in the materials."
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Karpyn, A. (2018). Realizing Collective Impact for Community Health: A Wilmington Case Study. Delaware Journal of Public Health, (4)(5), 8-13.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Michalowski, A., Tracy, T., Karpyn, A. (2018). Developing a Community Collective Impact Fruit and Vegetable Program Evaluation. University of Delaware Undergraduate and Research Service Scholars Symposium, Newark, DE. August 9, 2018.
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