Progress 08/01/11 to 07/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the research arm of the project is limited resource (at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty guideline) mothers, aunts, grandmothers or other female caregivers of young children ages 2-8 in Western Harnett, Lee, and Wake counties (Southeast Raleigh). We interviewed approximately 40 women in each county (n = 124 total) in Year 1, with additional follow-up interviews in Years 3 and 5. Of the 124 women who completed interviews in Year 1, we conducted a second round of interviews with 112 participants (response rate = 90%) in Year 3 and a third round of interviews with 90 participants (retention rate = 73%) in Year 5. In Years 2 and 4, we conducted ethnographic observations with 12 households. For the community outreach and extension part of this project, we targeted a limited resource audience in each of these geographic regions, working through our community partners (Cooperative Extension, Health Departments, food pantries and food banks, faith communities, and other community organizations) to faciiliate community-based initiatives to improve access to healthy and affordable food and safe places to be active. Theseprojects have had a tremendous impact, serving 2,770 youth and adults in Harnett County, 4,916in Lee County, and 31,312 in Wake County. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Over the course of this project, we employed 11 graduate research assistants and 9 additional undergraduate and graduate students to work on specific research tasks. We have actively recruited women and people of color.Students working on the project received hands-on training in such diverse methodological skills as conducting nutrition recalls, entering nutritional data, conducting semi-structured interviews, coding and analyzing semi-structured interviews, conducting ethnographic observations, and writing and analyzing ethnographic fieldnotes.We also gave students opportunities for mentoring by publishing with students.Over the course of the project, 5 peer-reviewed journal articles and ten conference papers were coauthored with current or former students. Additional articles are in progress. A former graduate student is also coauthor on a book on family meals and inequality, under contract with Oxford University Press. In making decisions about the direction of the project, weconsistently adopted a democratic framework that actively involvedstudents at every stage of the process. This wasa critical part of our students' training. Three of our former graduate research assistants have gotten tenure-track jobs (at Campbell University, Ithaca College, and Manchester University). Six are in the process of completing their Ph.D.s at NC State. Other students have taken a range of jobs, many tied to health or the food system. We integrated aspects of this project into our teaching. For example, students in NC State'sSOC 350, Food and Society, mapped and surveyed stores in a "food desert" neighborhood. The results were published in a peer-reviewed article and as an op-ed in the RaleighNews and Observer. They were also presented to the North Carolina General Assembly. We provided interactive workshops on community-based participatory research for master's and Ph.D. students at UNC Chapel-Hill's Gillings School of Global Public Health. We also partnered closely with Campbell University's Department of Public Health, and have supervised over 10 masters-level practicum students on projects related to this research. Finally, we provided training to Extension partners. We invited Extension staff in each county to attend and participate in the training workshops for the asset-mapping events that we held in 2012and 2013. In 2017, we presented a training session to Extension personnel on how asset mapping can be used as a tool to engage diverse audiences, atExtension,Extension Engage: Partnering with New and Immigrant Audiences, a conference organized by NC Cooperative Extension. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Throughout the duration of the project, we wrote and disseminated blog posts and monthly newsletters, which we shared with our research participants, community partners, and other community members. We also tried to think of creative ways to disseminate our results to research participants and community partners. In 2014, we published community food assessments for each county. We held community "parties" in each county to share the results of the community food assessments and interviews. We created printed documents, but also tried to engage community members in more interactive ways, such as through games and posters. In April and May 2017, near the end of our project, we organized community events to share our findings with research participants and community stakeholders in an informal setting. We disseminated our findings with the larger public through op-eds, which were published by the Raleigh-based News and Observer, the National Geographic website, and the online publication The Hill. When academic articles were published, we engaged with the media in order to increase their visibility among the general public. Our work was featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and other newspapers, and on NPR and the Today Show. We also presented our results at a number of conferences in a range of disciplines, including sociology, food studies, nutrition, and public health. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
General impact statement: This project adopts a participatory, community-based approach that integrates research and extension objectives in order to improve access to healthy food and places to be active and reduce childhood obesity in three North Carolina counties (Harnett, Lee, and Wake). We followed 124 lower-income families with young children over a five-year period. We conducted semi-structured interviews, 24-hour food recalls, and ethnographic observations with mothers and female caregivers in these families in order to identify the complex factors that influence food beliefs and practices. We also partnered with local organizations to conduct asset-mapping workshops and community food assessments in each county. The food assessments highlighted existing resources and challenges related to food access, as well as priorities for community-based solutions. Based on the results of these activities, we partnered with a variety of organizations to carry out innovative projects that expanded access to healthy and affordable foods and safe places to be active. These include Cooperative Extension and the Health Department in each county, faith communities, food pantries, food retail outlets (corner stores, a farmers' market, a mobile market, and a food cooperative), schools, Campbell University, YMCAs, and other community organizations. In total, we funded 56 mini-grant projects to improve access to healthy food and safe places to be active. Specific impacts: Research objective: Our objective was to provide a better understanding of the individual and structural factors that contribute to rising childhood obesity rates, particularly among low-income children and among racial and ethnic minorities. Research outcomes accomplished during this project include: We conducted three rounds of interviews with low-income mothers in three counties (Harnett, Lee, and Wake) in North Carolina. In Year 1, we conducted semi-structured interviews, 24-hour food recalls, and a demographic survey with 124 mothers and female caregivers of young children. In Year 3, of the original 124 participants, we were able to conduct follow-up interviews, surveys, and recalls with 112 of them (retention rate = 90%). In Year 5, we were able to conduct follow-up interviews, surveys, and recalls with 90 participants (retention rate = 73%). We also interviewed the children in these families, in order to better understand their perspectives about food and health. We also conducted ethnographic observations with 12 famillies in Years 2 and 4, observing them as they shopped for food, prepared and ate meals, and went to food pantries, WIC appointments, doctor's appointments, and social gatherings. Seven peer-review articles were published, with two additional articles under review. Twenty presentations were given an academic conferences. A book manuscript is under review and under contract with Oxford University Press. Publications have identified key factors shaping family food practices such as time insecurity, social networks and living arrangements, and the structure and availability of food assistance programs. As evidence of our impact, our research has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Chicago Tribune, among others. We also participated in a panel hosted by NewAmerica, a Washington D.C.-based nonpartisan think tank, in 2014. Extension objective: Our objective was to develop community-driven, culturally-appropriate environmental and policy changes that increase access to healthy foods and safe places for physical activity in three counties in North Carolina. Extension outcomes accomplished during this project include: We partnered with local organizations to carry out community food assessments in each county. The food assessments drew on a range of data, including farmer surveys (n=18), interviews with food pantry directors (n=29), surveys of faith communities (n=66), and inventories of corner stores. In addition to publishing the food assessments online and distributing copies to community stakeholders, we held community celebrations in each county to share the results. Approximately 170 community members attended these celebrations. We distributed a printed monthly newsletter to research participants. Newsletters included updates on our project, announcements about community events, and information about healthy eating, cooking, and physical activity. We distributed nutrition tips and announcements to a larger audience via our project's Facebook page and online mailing list. We partnered with North Carolina Cooperative Extension to offer nutrition education classes through EFNEP and Faithful Families Eating Smart and Moving More. We offered five Faithful Families classes (five in Wake County, one in Harnett County) and five EFNEP classes (three in Harnett County, three in Lee County, two in Wake County). A total of 120 youth and adults participated in the classes. 96% of participants who completed a final survey reported at least one positive change in healthy eating behaviors and/or a gain in nutrition knowledge. These classes were innovative in that they have been implemented in food pantry settings, with school-based garden programs, and with entire families. We partnered with EFNEP to create guides to carrying out nutrition education programs in both family-based and food pantry settings.These guides are now a part of NC's EFNEP curriculum, which is one of the top five most utilized EFNEP curricula across the United States. Across all three counties, we funded 56 mini-grant projects to improve access to healthy food and safe places to be active. These projects have had a tremendous direct impact. Mini-grantees reported that their work has directly served 38,998 adults and children, through innovative programs like yoga in childcare centers, $1 Zumba classes in a local church, garden-based entrepreneurship programs with at-risk youth, school and church gardens, and promotion for a local farmers' market. Each project was reflective of the priorities identified in community asset mapping workshops, by community stakeholders, and from research participants. We shared our results with policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels. We were invited to attend the 2013 Let's Move Faith and Communities meeting on childhood obesity at the White House, hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama. We presented some of our key findings on food access and food environments at a meeting of the House Committee on Food Desert Zones of the North Carolina General Assembly in 2014. We presented our findings to the county commissioners and many local stakeholders in Harnett County in 2017. Our project director also participated in the committee that collaborated on the 2017 Wake County Food Security plan and report, which includes a brief from our research.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
MacNell, Lillian, Sinikka Elliot, Annie Hardison-Moody, and Sarah Bowen. 2017. Black and Latino Urban Food Desert Residents Perceptions of Their Food Environment and Factors That Influence Food Shopping Decisions. Forthcoming, Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition. Available online at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19320248.2017.1284025.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Hardison-Moody, Annie, Michael B. Edwards, Jason N. Bocarro, Anna Stein, Michael A. Kanters, Danielle Marie Sherman, Lori K. Rhew, Willona Marie Stallings, and Sarah Bowen. 2017. Survey of Shared Use Among North Carolina Faith Communities. Preventing Chronic Disease 14. Available online at https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2017/16_0393.htm.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Elliott, Sinikka, and Sarah Bowen. Defending Motherhood: Morality, Responsibility, and Control in Feeding Children. Revise and resubmit, Journal of Marriage and the Family.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Hardison-Moody, Annie, Sinikka Elliott, Lillian Macnell, and Sarah Bowen. "It was too much": How Social, Cultural, and Economic Environments Shape Infant Feeding for Low-Income Women. Revise and resubmit, Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
- Type:
Books
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Bowen, Sarah*, Joslyn Brenton*, and Sinikka Elliott.* The Joy of Cooking?: Feeding the Family in Unequal Times. Book manuscript under contract and under review with Oxford University Press.
|
Progress 08/01/15 to 07/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the research arm of the project is limited resource (at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty guideline) mothers, aunts, grandmothers or other female caregivers of young children ages 2-8 in Western Harnett, Lee andWake counties (Southeast Raleigh). We are interviewing approximately 40 women in each county (n = 124 total). For the community outreach and extension part of this project, we are targeting a limited resource audience in each of these geographic regions, working through our community partners (Cooperative Extension, Health Departments, food pantries and food banks, faith communities, and other community organizations) to faciiliate community-based initiatives to improve access to healthy and affordable food and safe places to be active. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We have four graduate research assistants (20 hours per week), in addition to hiring other graduate students to help with specific research tasks on a temporary basis. We employed six undergraduates to help with specific research and extension tasks. With all of our student assistants, we strive to include them in all phases of research, including research design, data collection, data analysis, and writing and publishing our results. Most of the articles that have come from this project (accepted or published) have included co-authors who were former graduate students. We have also tried to actively involve students in our extension activities. An undergraduate student assisted us with nutrition education classes offered as part of EFNEP. Graduate and undergraduate studentsare playing an active role in our evaluation activities. This has had a positive impact on our project and in terms of our students' professional development. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We haveparticipated in informal conversations and shared our findings with directors and staff members at community organizations in our region, in North Carolina, and across the United States focused on hunger, food insecurity, and nutrition education among low-income populations. We have continued to write and disseminate weekly blog posts and monthly newsletters, which we share with our research participants, community partners, and other community members. We presented the results of our research at several conferences, including annual meetings for the Society of Nutrition Education and Behavior, the Eastern Sociological Society, and the Association for the Study of Food and Society. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will complete our final round of interviews with research participants. We will continue to write and publish peer-reviewed articles on our research findings. We will complete evaluations of our final round of mini-grants. We will conduct final asset-mapping workshops in each county, to assess community resources, share our research findings, connect community organizations (including mini-grantees), and help develop plans for future work that will continue after the grant period ends.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Research: We completed the second round of Year 3 interviews. These interviews focused largely on additional dimensions that we expect are related to childhood obesity and food behaviors, including material hardship, employment patterns (i.e., nonstandard work schedules), and maternal stress. We also collected additional data on food insecurity, food shopping, and beliefs about food and health. This series of interviews included one sociological interview, one nutrition interview, three 24-hour food recalls, and one survey (administered verbally). Of the 124 women who completed the study in Year 1, we completed the second round of interviews with 112 participants, for a response rate of 90%. We completed our second round of ethnographic observations, with 12 families, in May 2016. Extension: We are currently completing our evaluation of the mini-grants awarded to organizations across all three counties in 2015. Wake County: 5 out of 8 grantees have completed their final review. This includes Poe Health Center (revitalized an educational garden that serves over 1000 individuals per year) Passage Home (provided garden and nutrition education for 45 children), NC Fair Share CDC (expanded a community garden with over 80 youth volunteers), With Love From Jesus (improved its food pantry's efficiency to serve over 1,000 community members), and Grocers on Wheels (expanded its produce delivery service to serve over 4000 community members). Lee County: 7 out of 7 grantees have completed their final review. This includes Peace and Unity Community Garden (expanded the garden to provide plots for 14 families), Cameron Grove Community Garden (expanded the garden and created a walking path; served over 750 community members), The Stevens Center (expanded their community garden to serve 500 adults and youth with developmental disabilities), Salvation Army (expanded their food pantry serve over 1,000 households), Communities in Schools (hosted a running club and EFNEP nutrition classes for 31 middle school girls), Abundant Living Ministries (held nutrition classes for 14 students), and First Baptist Church (expanded their low-cost Zumba classes to serve more than 70 community members each week). Harnett County: 2 out of 3 grantees have completed their final review. This includes Harnett Voices (started a community garden that served more than 30 households) and McLean Chapel Church (started a community garden that provided fresh fruits and vegetables to 300 community members). We awarded new 2016 mini-grants. In Harnett County, grants were awarded to Harnett County Cooperative Extension (incorporating exercise equipment into EFNEP classes), Harnett County Partnership for Children (implementing yoga activities into the curriculum of childcare centers), Harnett County Childcare Resources (implementing school garden programs into the curriculum of childcare centers), and Campbell University Campus Kitchen (creating a community kitchen). In Lee County, grants were awarded to Cameron Grove AME Zion Church (providing garden education to church members), Central Carolina Community College (starting an on-campus community garden), First Baptist Church (expanding Zumba program capacity), Peace and Unity Community Garden (improving garden maintenance), Steven's Center/Stepping (starting a childcare garden), and West Lee Middle School Community Garden (expanding an on-site school garden). In Wake County, grants were awarded to Alliance Medical Ministry (expanding their garden), A Safe Place Child Development Center (expanding their outdoor learning space), Poe Center (expanding their garden), and Neighbor to Neighbor (expanding their garden growing season by creating a hoop house). We have also partnered with community groups and organizations in each of the counties, building on the results of the Community Food Assessments conducted in 2014. Through these partnerships, we have achieved the following results: In partnership with the YMCA, 3 faith community lay leaders have obtained fitness instructor certification to carry out free physical activity classes in congregations in Southeast Raleigh. Members of our team assisted a group of churches in Southeast Raleigh (Wake County) to partner to create a healthy living coalition with the goal of incorporating better nutrition and physical activity in their congregations. Members of our team are part of the state-wide Healthy Retail Project, led by the North Carolina Division of Public Health. We partnered with a local corner store in Sanford as part of our healthy food retail initiative. Through the partnership, we provided shelving and signage as well as efficient and reliable methods to track sales data. We are utilizing materials developed by the North Carolina Healthy Food Retail Collaborative. In partnership with the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, we held a meeting with twelve food pantries in Harnett County, where we talked about opportunities to collaborate with farmers and Cooperative Extension to get healthier foods into food pantries. We developed a newsletter that has been mailed quarterly to all Harnett County farmers, alerting them of local foods programming and information about how to donate excess produce to local pantries. We also continued to partner with North Carolina Cooperative Extension to offer nutrition education classes through the SNAP Education Program (SNAP-ED) and Faithful Families Eating Smart and Moving More Plus Program (Faithful Families). Working with the SNAP Education Program (SNAP-ED), we partnered with a faith community that had previously conducted the Faithful Families Program to carry out a series of Faithful Families Plus classes centered on chronic disease management and prevention. Sixteen individuals participated (15 women, 1 man, all African-American). Although only five participants completed entry and exit forms, all five made at least one positive behavior change related to healthy eating or physical activity. Four of the five (80%) reported they made progress toward personal goals they set as part of the program. In June and July 2016, we worked with the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) and Lee County Cooperative Extension's 4H program to provide two youth summer camps focused on nutrition and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education. 23 youth in total participated in the camps. During the same period, we also provided family nutrition education and cooking classes to families in Lee County who are enrolled in the Voices into Action research study. Four families (including 4 adults and 7 youth) enrolled in the classes. Based on aggregate data of all of these classes, outcomes showed that: 90% (26 of 29) participants improved their abilities to choose foods according to Federal Dietary Recommendations or gained knowledge. 55% (16 of 29) participants improved their physical activity practices or gained knowledge. 52% (15 of 29) participants used safe food handling practices more often or gained knowledge. From February to April of 2016, we worked with volunteers from the Greensboro Cooperative Extension Office as well as Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) and students from Meredith College and NC A&T State University to offer a 10-week series of garden-based nutrition classes at West Lee Middle School in Sanford. A total of 9 middle school students participated and reported the following changes: 67% (6 of 9) Children and youth improved their abilities to choose foods according to Federal Dietary Recommendations or gain knowledge. 67% (6 of 9) Children and youth improved their physical activity practices or gain knowledge.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Elliott, Sinikka, Josephine Ngo McKelvy, and Sarah Bowen. 2016 (forthcoming). Marking Time in Ethnography: Uncovering Temporal Dispositions. Ethnography. Available online at http://eth.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/06/22/1466138116655360.abstract.
- Type:
Books
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Bowen, Sarah, Joslyn Brenton, and Sinikka Elliott. The Joy of Cooking?: Feeding the Family in Unequal Times. Book manuscript under contract with Oxford University Press.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Elliott, Sinikka, and Sarah Bowen. The Weight of Motherhood: Morality, Responsibility, and Control in Feeding Children. Under review, Social Problems.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Bowen, Sarah, Sinikka Elliott, Cassandra Jones, Annie Hardison-Moody, J. Dara Bloom, Daniela Garc�a Grand�n, and Helen Herrera. Broadening our Understanding of Acculturation and Dietary Quality: A Mixed Methods Analysis of Key Factors Shaping Food Choices of Immigrant Women in North Carolina. Under review, Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Johnson, Cassandra, Amy Roberts, Annie Hardison-Moody, Sinikka Elliott, and Sarah Bowen. Low-income mothers fare worse overall, but not for all Healthy Eating Index 2010 components of dietary quality. Under review, Nutrition.
|
Progress 08/01/14 to 07/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the research arm of the project is limited resource (at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty guideline) mothers, aunts, grandmothers or other female caregivers of young children ages 2-8 in Western Harnett, Lee andWake counties (Southeast Raleigh). We are interviewing approximately 40 women in each county (n = 124total). For the community outreach and extension part of this project, we are targeting a limited resource audience in each of these geographic regions, working through our community partners (Cooperative Extension, Health Departments, food pantries and food banks, faith communities, and other community organizations) to faciiliate community-based initiatives to improve access to healthy and affordable food and safe places to be active. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We have four graduate research assistants (20 hours per week), in addition to hiring other graduate students to help with specific research tasks on a temporary basis. We also employ two undergraduates to help with specific research and extension tasks.With all of our student assistants, we strive to include them in all phases of research, including research design, data collection, data analysis, and writing and publishing our results. Most of the articles that have come from this project (accepted or published)have included co-authors who were former graduate students.We have also tried to actively involve students in our extension activities. An undergraduate student has assisted us with nutrition education classes offered as part of EFNEP.Graduate students areplaying an active role in our evaluation activities. This has had a positive impact on our project and in terms of our students' professional development. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Our article on cooking and the factors that complicate family's cooking efforts continues to be widely featured in the media, appearing in editorials in theNew York Times,Washington Post, andTime Magazine(in addition to others). Based on this research, we also wrote an op-ed for National Geographic's blog The Plate. Based on this research, in November 2014, we participated in a panel hosted by NewAmerica, a Washington D.C.-based nonpartisan think tank, on the current challenges affecting families in the United States. As a result of this publicity, we have also participated in informal conversations and shared our findings with directors and staff members at community organizations across the United States focused on hunger, food insecurity, and nutrition education among low-income populations. We have continued to write and disseminate weekly blog posts and monthly newsletters, which we share with our research participants, community partners, and other community members. We presented the results of our research at several conferences, including annual meetings for the Society of Nutrition Education and Behavior, the American Sociological Association, the Eastern Sociological Society, and the Association for the Study of Food and Society. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We will complete our second round of Year 3 interviews with our participants. Currently, we have completed interviews with 98 participants, and we have 12 additional participants who are in process. We hope to have all interviews completed by September 2015. Once the interviews are complete, our team will code transcripts from all of the sociological and nutrition interviews. The food recall data will be entered, using NDSR software for food recall data analysis. We will conduct our second round of observations with the same 12 families who were observed in year two of the study. We plan to finish observations in Spring 2016. We will continue to write and publish articles based on our results from research conducted in Years 1-3. We will evaluate the 19 new (2015) mini-grants currently underway and complete the evaluations for the 2014 mini-grants. We are in the process of conducting site visits with each of the grantees, to provide feedback on their mid-point progress and offer any necessary technical assistance. Additionally, are planning meetings and other events to allow grantees to connect with one another, in order to promote and support collaboration between organizations (within and across counties), particularly since many are carrying out similar projects (for example, community gardens). We will continue to work with community organizations in each county to implement changes that reflect the assets and needs that were identified during the community food assessment. Several projects related to this work are continuing, including: Working with three faith communities in Southeast Raleigh to implement facility use agreements that encourage physical activity on-site at the faith community; Connecting food retail initiatives in Southeast Raleigh, to identify and foster opportunities for cooperation and collaboration, in order to build a more vibrant and diverse food environment in Southeast Raleigh; Facilitating partnerships among food pantry directors and farmers in Harnett County, in addition to piloting a healthy corner store initiative; and Supporting community gardens in Lee County and fostering connections between youth, nutrition, and gardening programs through the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program. Finally, we will continue to partner with EFNEP and Faithful Families to offer additional nutrition classes and programs in community settings. This includes expanding the food pantry pilot to additional food pantries in each of the three counties.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Research: We had three manuscripts accepted for publication and have three additional manuscripts under review. We are in the final stages of completing three other manuscripts. We have almost completed our second round of Year 3 interviews. This series of interviews includes one sociological interview, one nutrition interview, three 24-hour food recalls, and one survey (administered verbally). To date, of the 124 women who completed the study in Year 1, we have completed the second round of interviews with 98 participants. Interviews for 12 additional participants are in progress.Based on these results and on our ongoing efforts to minimize attrition, we estimate a final Year 3 response rate of at least 85% (with a final n of at least 105). We have started the second round of ethnographic observations. Of the 12 households that we are scheduled to conduct observations with, we have completed one observation and have another in progress. We will continue to conduct observations at a rate of one or two per month. We estimate we will complete the observations in Spring 2016. Extension: Two of our published papers are based on our Extension work. We are currently completing our evaluation of the mini-grants awarded to organizations across all three counties in 2014. Overall, the 2014 mini-grants in each of the counties were very successful. We are currently finalizing the year-end reviews for the 2014-2015 mini-grants, but can report the following accomplishments: Wake County: 4 out of 10 grantees have completed their final review. Of these grantees: Agape Word Fellowship held free fitness classes that served 34 adults and six children. This church also held a youth nutrition program that impacted 17 youth. Held blood pressure, diabetes, and kidney screenings for over 150 individuals. Wake County Cooperative Extension partnered with Mount Peace Baptist Church to offer family-based local foods nutrition classes for eight families. Poe Health Center revitalized an educational garden that serves over 1000 individuals per year. Passage Home held nutrition classes through EFNEP as well as free fitness classes for 55 children. Lee County: 6 out of 7 grantees have completed their final review. Of these grantees: Peace and Unity Community Garden estimates that they donate produce to 100-150 individuals per month, via the neighborhood corner store, which is within walking distance of the garden. Fair Promise AME Zion Church constructed a walking trail that serves their entire church community, and they held healthy eating and physical activity sessions during their Vacation Bible School, serving 25 youth and 20 adults. Cameron Grove Community Garden started a community garden, and they donate produce to 24 individuals. The Sanford Farmers' Market conducted an outreach campaign to let more low-income families know about their services, including accepting EBT. They serve an estimated 500 individuals each year. The Stevens Center serves adults and youth with developmental disabilities, and they created an outdoor play area that serves 33 children and 26 adults each year through their programming. West Lee Middle School started a garden and hosted nutrition classes for children who worked in the garden. 10 children helped build the beds, 15 children attended nutrition classes, and 20-15 children worked in the garden each week. In Harnett County, one out of five grantees has completed their final review. The Harnett Partnership for Children worked with 10 childcare sites to use the NAP-SACC monitoring tool to measure nutrition environments. They also implemented Be Active Kids in 10 childcare centers, providing healthy eating lessons for an estimated 576 children impacted in total. We awarded new mini-grants in each of the three counties where we work. This includes: Harnett County (3 grants): Harnett Voices (community garden), Radio Reading Service (nutrition classes and chair exercises for visually-impaired individuals), McLean Chapel Church (community garden) Lee County (8 grants): Salvation Army (food pantry), Abundant Living Ministries (food pantry), The Stevens Center (community garden),the Peace and Unity Garden and Cameron Grove Gardens (community gardens),First Baptist Church (Zumba classes) Wake County (8 grants): With Love from Jesus (food pantry), Everyday Pioneers (community garden), A Safe Place Child Enrichment Center (community garden andnutrition and cooking classes),The Poe Center and Passage Homes (community gardens),Grocers on Wheels (produce delivery and nutrition education), Alliance Medical Ministry (community garden and nutrition and cooking classes) We have also partnered with community groups and organizations in each of the counties, building results of the Community Food Assessments conducted in 2014. Through these partnerships, we have achieved the following results: 3 faith community lay leaders have been trained as fitness instructors to carry out free physical activity classes in two congregations in Southeast Raleigh. This is a partnership project with the YMCA. We are partnering with Dr. Stephanie Jillcot-Pitts at East Carolina University to develop a healthy corner store pilot initiative that will be implemented in two corner stores (one in Southeast Raleigh, one in Harnett County). In partnership with the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, we held a meeting with twelve food pantries in Harnett County, where we talked about opportunities to collaborate with farmers and Cooperative Extension to get healthier foods into food pantries. We are working with Lee County 4-H and Lee County Schools to develop a garden-focused nutrition education program that will be delivered through the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program in one Lee County school in the spring of 2016. We also continued to partner with North Carolina Cooperative Extension to offer nutrition education classes through the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFENP) and Faithful Families Eating Smart and Moving More (Faithful Families). Working with the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP), we partnered with a faith community that had previously conducted the Faithful Families Program to carry out a series of EFNEP classes centered around local foods. The class had eight adult participants who reported the following behavioral changes: 100% of participants had a positive change in at least one food group at program exit 75% (6 of 8) of participants showed improvement in one or more nutrition practice (i.e. plans meals, makes healthy food choices, prepares food without adding salt, reads nutrition labels or has children eat breakfast). In June and July 2015, we worked with the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) and Lee County Cooperative Extension's 4H program to provide two youth summer camps focused on nutrition and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Education. In total, 23 youth participated. In addition to the summer youth nutrition education classes, we are also providing a series of family nutrition education classes.Four families are enrolled in these classes, which are ongoing.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Bowen, Sarah, Sinikka Elliott, and Joslyn Brenton. 2014. The Joy of Cooking? Contexts 13(3): 20-25.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Hardison-Moody, Annie, Sarah Bowen, J. Dara Bloom, Marissa Sheldon, Lorelei Jones, and Brandi Leach. Incorporating Nutrition Education Classes into Food Pantry Settings: Lessons Learned in Design and Implementation. Forthcoming, Journal of Extension.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Jakes, Susan, Annie Hardison-Moody, Sarah Bowen, and John Blevins. Engaging Community Change: The Critical Role of Values in Asset Mapping. Forthcoming, Community Development.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Elliott, Sinikka, and Sarah Bowen. The Weight of Motherhood: Morality, Responsibility, and Control in Feeding Children. Under review, American Journal of Sociology.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Johnson, Cassandra, Amy Roberts, Annie Hardison-Moody, Sinikka Elliott, and Sarah Bowen. Evaluating diet quality using the Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI-2010) for a diverse sample of low-income mothers in North Carolina. Under review, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
MacNell, Lillian, Sarah Bowen, Sinikka Elliot, and Annie Hardison-Moody. "Interactions between urban food desert residents and their food environment: Bringing the individual back in." Under review at Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition.
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Progress 08/01/13 to 07/31/14
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for the research arm of the project is limited resource (at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty guideline) mothers, aunts, grandmothers or other female caregivers of young children ages 2-8 in Western Harnett, Lee andWake counties (Southeast Raleigh). We are interviewing approximately 40 women in each county (n = 123 total). For the community outreach and extension part of this project, we are targeting a limited resource audience in each of these geographic regions, working through our community partners (Cooperative Extension, Health Departments, food pantries and food banks, faith communities, and other community organizations) to faciiliate community-based initiatives to improve access to healthy and affordable food and safe places to be active. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? We have four graduate research assistants (20 hours per week), in addition to hiring other graduate students to help with specific research tasks on a temporary basis. We also employ two undergraduates to help with specific research and extension tasks. We also work with Tashara Leak, currently a graduate student at Minnesota). With all of our student assistants, we strive to include them in all phases of research, including research design, data collection, data analysis, and writing and publishing our results. Two graduate students presented papers based on our project at professional meetings. The first two articles that have been published from this research have included co-authors who were former graduate students (Brenton) or who are currently graduate students (Leak, at Minnesota). Of the four papers that we hope to submit within the next two months, three include current or former graduate students. We have also tried to actively involve students in our extension activities. Undergraduate and graduate students helped plan and carry out the community celebrations in each county this spring. Graduate students are also playing an active role in our evaluation activities. This has had a positive impact on our project and in terms of our students' professional development. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Our research publications have generated quite a bit of interest. A diagram from our article on social media and nutrition education was selected as the "image of the month" by the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior and featured on the JNEB website. Our article on cooking and the factors that complicate family's cooking efforts has been widely featured in the media, appearing in editorials in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Time Magazine (in addition to others). We have continued to write and disseminate weekly blog posts and monthly newsletters, which we share with our research participants, community partners, and other community members. We released community food assessments in each of the three counties in the summer of 2014. The food assessments drew on a range of data, including farmer surveys, food pantry director interviews, facility use agreement surveys in faith communities, and corner store inventories.Some of our key findings included: o Of the 66 faith communities that completed the survey (out of 230 total across three counties), we learned that 59% open their facilities for physical activity to outside groups or individuals. This included multi-purpose rooms, walking trails or tracks, basement spaces, parking lots, and playgrounds. o We also talked with 29 food pantry directors, who told us that across three counties, 61% are unable to meet the current food needs of their clients. o In the two rural counties, we interviewed 18 farmers. Almost half reported that they already donated excess produce. However, we also learned that several are willing to donate, or would like to learn more about the process, in order to support food insecure people in their community. o Working with students from Campbell University and North Carolina State University, we carried out corner store assessments in Southeast Raleigh and Harnett County. We learned that in Southeast Raleigh, the twenty-five convenience stores, on average, charged 66% more than grocery stores for the same items. Also, fresh fruits and vegetables were rarely available in convenience stores (apples being the highest, available at 12% of stores), whereas they were available in 100% of grocery stores. Similarly, in Harnett County, fresh vegetables were not available in any of the 39 convenience stores surveyed, and fresh fruits were available in some (for example, one-third of stores stocked bananas). We held community events in each county to celebrate the publication of the food assessments, share our findings with community members, and promote the work of the community-based action groups and mini-grantees. o In Lee County, we held our community celebration on May 17, 2014, at the Sanford Farmers Market. Approximately 100 adults and children attended the event, which included Zumba classes, a welcome by former mayor Cornelia Olive, and food demonstrations by the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program. o In Harnett County, we held our community celebration on June 1, 2014, at On White Oak Baptist Church. Approximately 40 people attended the event, which included fitness classes, food demonstrations, a healthy food truck, and gardening demonstrations from mini-grantees. o In Southeast Raleigh, we held our community celebration on June 7, 2014, at historic Chavis Park. Approximately 30 people attended the event, which included a food obstacle course for kids, remarks from NC Representative Yvonne Holley, and demonstrations about skateboarding and hydroponics from our mini-grantees. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We will complete our second round of Year 3 interviews with our participants. We hope to have all interviews completed by February 2015. Once the interviews are complete, our team will code transcripts from all of the sociological and nutrition interviews. The food recall data will be entered, using NDSR software for food recall data analysis. We will finish our evaluation of the 22 mini-grants currently underway. We are in the process of conducting site visits with each of the grantees, to provide feedback on their mid-point progress and offer any necessary technical assistance. Additionally, are planning meetings and other events to allow grantees to connect with one another, in order to promote and support collaboration between organizations (within and across counties), particularly since many are carrying out similar projects (for example, community gardens). We will work with community organizations and the community-based action groups in each county to implement changes that reflect the assets and needs that were identified during the community food assessment. Several projects related to this work are currently underway, including: o Working with three faith communities in Southeast Raleigh to implement facility use agreements that encourage physical activity on-site at the faith community; o Connecting food retail initiatives in Southeast Raleigh, to identify and foster opportunities for cooperation and collaboration, in order to build a more vibrant and diverse food environment in Southeast Raleigh; o Facilitating partnerships among food pantry directors in Harnett County, in addition to piloting a healthy corner store initiative; and o Supporting community gardens in Lee County and fostering connections between gardens, food pantries, and families in need. Finally, we will continue to partner with EFNEP and Faithful Families to offer additional nutrition classes and programs in community settings. This includes expanding the food pantry pilot to additional food pantries in each of the three counties.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Research: We finished coding our interviews from Year 1. We published our first paper based on this research (an analysis of the Year 1 interviews, with a focus on the factors that complicate families’ efforts to cook healthy meals). We are in the final stages of completing four other manuscripts, based on our data from our first year, and will submit them within the next two months. These include an article on the relationship between food security status and indicators of dietary quality, an examination of the factors that affect families’ ability to prepare food at home, an analysis of how individuals experience living in areas with low food access, and an examination of parental feeding practices and stigma around children’s weight. We completed observations with twelve families selected from our 123 interview participants. Our team selected participants from each county (four per county) to represent the diversity of our research sample. Researchers observed the family during ten key times of family life, including eating routines (breakfast, lunch, dinner), doctor’s/WIC appointments, food shopping trips, and bedtime and afterschool routines. We spent a total of 263 hours with these twelve families, recording extensive fieldnotes. We are currently analyzing the fieldnotes from the observations, and will use them in future publications We have begun our second round of Year 3 interviews with all 123 participants from Year One. We are collecting data on additional dimensions that we expect are related to food insecurity and feeding and eating behaviors, and health (based on our analysis of the data from Year 1); these include material hardship, employment patterns (i.e., nonstandard work schedules), and maternal stress, in addition to collecting additional data on food insecurity, food shopping, and beliefs about food and health. This series of interviews includes one sociological interview, one nutrition interview, three 24-hour food recalls, and one survey (administered verbally). To date, we have completed the second round of interviews with 10 participants. Interviews for 13 additional participants are in progress (meaning that some interviews have been completed, but not all). Extension: We completed our evaluation of the mini-grants awarded to organizations in Harnett County in 2013. Overall, the 2013 mini-grants in Harnett County were very successful, and despite some minor setbacks, they had the following accomplishments: o Campbell University welcomed more than 80 volunteers at their community garden and donated produce to the Harnett County Food Pantry that served 45 adults and 42 children. o Lillington Star Free Will Baptist Church held nutrition classes for ten adults and two children, and 30 adults and 30 children participated in weekly exercise classes. o Think Smart Outreach Center held nutrition and Zumba classes that served 45 individuals. o Jacob’s Mobile Market donated 15-20 pounds of produce each week to approximately 25 senior citizens living in local housing complexes. We awarded mini-grants in each of the three counties where we work. This includes: o 7 mini-grants in Lee County (awarded in January 2014): Cameron Grove AME Zion Church (community garden), Fair Promise AME Zion Church (walking trail), First Baptist Church of Sanford ($1 Zumba classes), Peace and Unity Community Garden (community garden – community outreach), Sanford Farmer’s Market (farmer’s market - community outreach), the Stevens Center (outdoor play area), and West Lee Middle School (teaching garden). o 10 mini-grants in Southeast Raleigh (awarded in January 2014): Agape Word Fellowship Church (free fitness classes), Alice Aycock Poe Center (learning garden for children), Alliance Medical Ministry (community garden), Fertile Ground Food Cooperative (food cooperative), Neighbor to Neighbor Outreach (outdoor play area), North Carolina Fair Share CDC (community garden), Passage Home (healthy meals and physical activity during summer camps), Treasuring Christ Church (outdoor play area), and Wake County Cooperative Extension (nutrition education incorporating fresh produce). o 5 mini-grants in western Harnett County (awarded in April 2014): Excel Outreach Center (garden and physical activity for children), Harnett County Partnership for Children (nutrition assessment and education for child care centers), Lillington Star Free Will Baptist Church (outdoor play area), Shawtown community residents (community garden), and Wonder Years Preschool to create school garden. In April 2014, our Project Director, Sarah Bowen, presented some of our key findings on food access and food environments at a meeting of the House Committee on Food Desert Zones of the North Carolina General Assembly, in addition to publishing an op-ed on the same topic in the Raleigh News and Observer. As we noted below, we released the results of community food assessments conducted in each county. Community-based action groups continued to meet in each county. In Harnett County, the community-based action group held a listening section in the Shawtown neighborhood of Lillington, where they planned for a community garden that was eventually funded through a Voices into Action mini-grant. The group also started a food pantry director’s collaborative, which aims to help all food pantries to increase their reach and serve Harnett County’s food insecure population. In Lee County, the community-based action group has used information from the community food assessment to begin connecting farmers with the Society for St. Andrews, a gleaning organization. Finally, in Southeast Raleigh, the community-based action group has focused on faith communities, and is currently carrying out an assessment of resources and programs in five key faith communities in the area. They are working with these congregations to improve access to physical activity and healthy foods for their members, building on the Faithful Families Eating Smart and Moving More program. Healthy Southeast Raleigh also hosted a community event in April 2014, which about 20 people attended. At the event, local partners and mini-grantees shared information about resources and programs available for free or low-cost to help residents connect with healthy, affordable foods and safe places to be active. We also continued to partner with North Carolina Cooperative Extension to offer nutrition education classes through the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFENP) and Faithful Families Eating Smart and Moving More (Faithful Families). o They offered four Faithful Families classes (four in Southeast Raleigh, one in Harnett County) and five EFNEP classes (three in Harnett County, two in Southeast Raleigh). The EFNEP classes were held in after-school programs, neighborhood organizations, and in food pantries. o Across all nine classes 100% of individuals showed a positive change in healthy eating behaviors in at least one food group. Participants also reported an average $134 cost savings on their food bills each month. Finally, 88% of participants showed improvements in one or more nutrition practices. o Three of these EFNEP classes represented a pilot project, to adapt the EFNEP curriculum to serve food pantry clients. Eleven individuals completed classes through this food pantry pilot. 100% of these individuals showed improvements in one or more food resource management practices after the six lessons, and 73% reported that they no longer run out of food at the end of the month. This pilot project is an exciting expansion of the EFNEP program that we hope to continue throughout the grant. We are working on a manuscript about these pilot classes, which we hope to submit to the Journal of Extension within the next two months.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Bowen, Sarah, Sinikka Elliott, and Joslyn Brenton. 2014. The Joy of Cooking and Other Kitchen Lies. Contexts 13(3): 20-25.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Leak, Tashara, Lisa Benavente, L. Suzanne Goodell, Annie Lassiter, Lorelei Jones, and Sarah Bowen. 2014. Perspectives of EFNEP Participants on the Use of Social Media to Supplement Nutrition Education: Focus Group Findings. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior 46(3): 203-208.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Jakes, Susan, Annie Hardison-Moody, Sarah Bowen, and John Blevins. Engaging Community Change: The Critical Role of Values in Asset Mapping. Revise and resubmit, Community Development.
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Progress 08/01/12 to 07/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for the research arm of the project is limited resource (at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guideline) mothers, aunts, grandmothers or other female caregivers of young children ages 2-8 in Western Harnett, Lee and Wake counties (Southeast Raleigh). We are interviewing 40-50 women in each county. For the community outreach and extension part of this project, we are targeting a limited resource audience in each of these geographic regions, working through our community partners (Cooperative Extension, Health Departments, food pantries and food banks, and faith communities) and with our community mentors to faciiliate community-based initiatives to improve access to healthy and affordable food and safe places to be active. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? As part of our asset-mapping workshops, we invited people from interested organizations to participate in our 3-hour training workshop in order to learn more about the asset-mapping process. We had 6 additional people participate in our training for the Lee County workshop and 1 additional person participate in the training for the Wake County workshop. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? We have analyzed key themes from the first year of the research, which have been created as blog posts on our website. These blog posts have been shared in our mini-grant applications in each county, to encourage organizations to develop programs that address the needs and assets of our study participants and others like them. After each asset mapping workshop, we created a summary report. We shared the reports with our stakeholders, posted them our website, and shared the highlights in newspaper articles, including the Raleigh News and Observer. We were invited to share our experiences with leaders of faith community and community groups, as well as representatives from USDA and other governmental agencies, at a meeting of Let’s Move Faith and Community partners at the White House in March 2013. Our project was also featured on the USDA blog. We are currently completing food assessments in each county, and we will have a community meeting to talk about the results of these surveys. The results will also be shared with our community-based action groups in each county. Members of these committees have been helping us to complete the food assessments, so they are aware of the results of the surveys and reports as they come in. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We will complete food assessments in each county. The assessments vary according to the community's needs and feedback, but include inventories and assessments of retail stores, food pantries, faith communities, and farmers and farm stands/direct markets. We will share the results with stakeholders and the community-based action groups in each county, and the action plans of each county will be adapted based on these results. We will complete the in-depth observations in Fall 2013 and conduct follow-up interviews with all of our participants in Spring 2014. Interview questions will be adapted based on the results of our analysis of our Year 1 interviews, to allow us to investigate new dimensions of the way that food environments and social, cultural, and economic factors affect childhood obesity. Community-based action groups will continue to work to achieve long- and short-term goals related to improving access to healthy foods and safe places to be active. We will continue to work with our mini-grantees to increase their capacity and build sustainability and will fund another round of mini-grants in 2014. We will continue to use participation in EFNEP and Faithful Families as ways to get individuals, community groups, and faith communities engaged in issues related to access to healthy food and safe places to be active (and also to communicate information about nutrition and healthy eating).
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Activities: We completed 126 total interviews, including 46 interviews in Harnett County, 39 in Lee County and 41 in Wake County. This series of interviews includes one semi-structured interview and three follow-up food recall interviews. Two of the interviews were in person (semi-structured interview and first food recall) and two were over the phone (two final food recall interviews). The team is currently coding transcripts from all of the semi-structured interviews. The food recall data is currently being entered, using NDSR software for food recall data analysis. The goal is to have all food recall data and all interviews coded by September 2013 2013. To complete these interviews, team members carried out a variety of recruiting efforts, including outreach to partners at the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, Cooperative Extension, North Carolina local health departments, food banks and pantries, and faith communities, particularly faith communities that participated in the Faithful Families Eating Smart and Moving More Program. We are midway through the observation phase of the project, with 12 families selected from the interview participants. Researchers observe the family during ten key times of family life, including eating routines (breakfast, lunch, dinner), doctor’s/WIC appointments, food shopping trips, and bedtime and afterschool routines. Six families have completed their observations and two families are in the process of completion. The goal is to complete observations by November 2013. Four mini-grant projects were funded in Harnett County; winning proposals were announced in March 2013. Mini-grant proposals include: a community garden at Campbell University, Jacob’s Mobile Market and garden, an exercise room and walking trail at Lillington Star Free Will Baptist Church, and a nutrition education and afterschool physical activity program at Think Smart Outreach Center. Both the market and garden are developing agreements to donate a portion of their produce to the Lillington Food Pantry, which is managed by Lee County 4-H. 11 mini-grant proposals were submitted in Lee County and 7 selected for funding. We are waiting for approval from USDA and hope to announce the winning proposals in August 2013. 15 mini-grant proposals were submitted in Wake County in July 2013; we are currently reviewing proposals. Based on feedback from the community-based action groups, we began conducting food assessments in each county. We developed two survey tools, one for learning more about food pantries and one for learning more about local farmers. We have conducted six food pantry surveys, in Harnett and Lee counties, and are continuing to survey the food pantries and begin work with the farmers. Events: Health asset mapping workshops were held in Wake and Lee Counties. The Lee County workshops were held on September 28, 2012 at the Lee County Cooperative Extension Office, and on September 29, 2012 at the Boys and Girls Club in Lee County. 12 community members and 25 representatives from agencies and organizations attended the workshops. The Wake County workshops were held in Southeast Raleigh on February 22 and 23, 2013, and were attended by 18 community members and 39 representatives from community organizations like NC Cooperative Extension, the Interfaith Food Shuttle, faith communities, and other local stakeholders. The team is currently analyzing data from these workshops, in addition to the social network surveys that were collected from community leaders at the workshops. Audio for all three asset mapping workshops (Lee, Harnett and Wake Counties) is currently being transcribed. A community-based action committee, comprised of community stakeholders, was established in all three counties. Each committee meets monthly, and each is in the process of developing action plans to address policy and environmental changes related to access to healthy foods and places to be active. With support from the Lee County community-based action group and one of our community mentors, we were one of the partners involved in maintaining and expanding the Peace and Unity Community Garden in Sanford, North Carolina. In June 2013, we helped host “a day at the garden” a community event designed to raise interest and awareness around issues related to food access and healthy eating. Approximately 50 people attended the event. We were invited to attend a meeting of Let’s Move Faith and Community partners, held at the White House in March 2013. We had the opportunity to share our work and learn from faith and community groups also working to increase access to healthy foods and safe places to be active. Three Faithful Families Eating Smart and Moving More classes have been completed as a result of this grant, two in Southeast Raleigh and one with a Latino church in Lee County. 32 two participants attended the first class at the church in Lee County. Seventeen participants came to Faithful Families classes at the two churches in Southeast Raleigh. Additionally, an Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) class was created in October 2012 and included three of our study participants. Three Faithful Families classes (two in Southeast Raleigh, one in Harnett County) and two EFNEP classes (one at an after-school program and mini-grantee site in Harnett County, one at a food pantry in Southeast Raleigh) are scheduled or ongoing in Summer 2013.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Bowen, Sarah, and Sinikka Elliott. Bringing Sociology to the Table: A Case for a Sociological Approach to the Obesity Epidemic. Under review, Sociological Forum.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Leak, Tashara, Lisa Benavente, L. Suzanne Goodell, Annie Lassiter, Lorelei Jones, and Sarah Bowen. Perspectives of EFNEP Participants on the Use of Social Media to Supplement Nutrition Education: Focus Group Findings. Revise and resubmit, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.
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Progress 08/01/11 to 07/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Activities: Completed 64 total interviews, including 30 interviews in Harnett County, 24 in Lee County and 10 in Wake County. To complete these interviews, team members carried out a variety of recruiting efforts, including outreach to partners at the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, Cooperative Extension, North Carolina local health departments, food banks and pantries, and faith communities, particularly faith communities that participated in the Faithful Families Eating Smart and Moving More Program. Additionally, a total of 23 community events (6 in Lee County; 11 in Harnett County; 6 in Wake County) were attended by team members (including community mentors) to recruit participants for the research arm of the project and potential partners for the outreach component. Community food assessments were developed for Harnett and Wake counties by students in Sarah Bowen's Sociology 495: Food and Society class. Two focus groups were held with EFNEP graduates to evaluate how social media could be used effectively to communicate nutrition information and stay in touch with participants. Events: Health asset mapping workshops were held in Harnett County, with nineteen community leaders (representing fourteen organizations like the Health Department, Cooperative Extension, faith communities, food banks, Child Nutrition) and eighteen community members attending. The team is currently analyzing data from these workshops, in addition to the fourteen social network surveys that were collected from community leaders at the workshops. An additional asset mapping workshop was held with 27 community members in Western Harnett County, in a very rural, high poverty area. A community-based action committee, comprised of community stakeholders, was established in Harnett County. The committee selected a Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary and has been meeting monthly since May 2012. PARTICIPANTS: Sarah Bowen, PhD, serves as Project Director, overseeing all project components and research. Other principal investigators include Sinikka Elliot, PhD (Department of Sociology, NCSU), Lorelei Jones (Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, NCSU), Susan Jakes, PhD (Family and Consumer Sciences, NCSU), John O'Sullivan, PhD (Cooperative Extension, NC A&T State University). Project staff include a community outreach coordinator, Kathryn Rosenbaum; a project manager, Annie Hardison-Moody, PhD; and a community outreach nutrition associate, Tashara Leak. Three PhD students in Sociology (Joslyn Brenton, Rachel Powell, and Lillian O'Connell) work on the project. We have also recently hired several research assistants (Gloria Cardona, Ashley Cooke, and Helen Herrera) to help with data collection. John Blevins, PhD (Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University) provided training and support for the asset mapping workshops, and Lisa Poser (Cooperative Extension, NC A&T State University) provided planning support on the community gardens aspects of the project. Additionally, eight community mentors have been trained to provide both recruitment and outreach support to the project. Five of these community mentors are still employed with the project. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audience for the research arm of the project is limited resource (at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guideline) mothers, aunts, grandmothers or other female caregivers of young children ages 2-8 in Western Harnett, Lee and Wake Counties (Southeast Raleigh). We are interviewing 40-50 women in each county. For the community outreach work, we are targeting a limited resource audience in each of these geographic regions, working through our community partners (Cooperative Extension, Health Departments, food pantries and food banks, and faith communities). Additionally, our community mentors (hired in each county) provide recruitment support and feedback on recruitment and outreach strategies with our target population. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: We changed our urban county from Durham County to Wake County. We have reduced our target population for the research arm of the project from 180 to 120-150 participants.
Impacts
Since our main goal in Year 1 was to collect data that will allow us to work more effectively and collaboratively with our community partners in Years 2-5, we do not have many outcomes or impacts to share. The results of the asset-mapping workshops in Harnett County were shared with community stakeholders in order to facilitate more effective communication and collaboration among community organizations and their audiences.
Publications
- Bowen, Sarah, Tashara Leak, and Lorelei Jones. 2012. "Assessing the Viability of Social Media as a Tool to Communicate Nutrition Information." Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior Annual Conference Program and Abstract Book.
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