Primary Submission Category: Health behaviors
Facilitating farmers market use among SNAP parents by collaboratively designing the FM Engage app
Authors: Callie Ogland-Hand Katie Poppe Regan Gee Tim Ciesielski Maggie Switzer Owusua Yamoah Jillian Schulte Darcy Freedman Shannon Walker
Presenting Author: Callie Ogland-Hand*
Background: Fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption is low among adults, particularly those receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) benefits. Among low-income working adults, SNAP users are more likely to be women and have children. Children in low-income households are less likely to meet recommendations for FV, but SNAP use has been shown to increase consumption. Farmers markets can improve access to FV, and nutrition incentive programs help alleviate healthy food access barriers. Limited awareness of these programs and farmers market operations is a common, though modifiable, barrier.
Objective: Our goal was to develop a web app FM Engage (Farmers Market Engagement), through an iterative, community-engaged process in order to facilitate the integration of farmers markets into food shopping routines for SNAP users with children.
Methods: Following a human centered design approach, development included three phases. (1) Inspiration: with our community nutrition partners, we established the goal of and target audience for FM Engage. (2) Ideation: Interviews with SNAP users and farmers market managers informed the design and functions of FM Engage version 1. We piloted FM Engage version 1 to test functionality, design, and utility. (3) Implementation: a randomized trial study is forthcoming.
Results: Core features identified in interviews were incorporated into FM Engage version 1, which alleviate existing challenges for SNAP parents accessing farmers markets. These features include: market information (GPS-link address, hours), likely available inventory and vendors, family-friendly events, shopping lists, and real-time updates from market managers.
Conclusions: There is a need for tools to help low-income families increase FV consumption by reducing barriers to farmers markets and nutrition incentive programs. Collaboration with SNAP participants helped us design an app that is user-informed; this may result in higher app adoption and increase FV purchases.