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A Rural Small Food Store Intervention Improves Healthy Food Availability: Results of the Maryland Healthy Stores Pilot
Author(s) -
Steeves Elizabeth T Anderson,
Rowan Megan T,
Thomas Linda,
Penniston Erin,
Gittelsohn Joel
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.842.5
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , environmental health , rural area , stocking , intervention (counseling) , psychosocial , medicine , promotion (chess) , health promotion , obesity , healthy food , business , gerontology , public health , geography , food science , biology , nursing , pathology , psychiatry , politics , political science , law , forestry
In the U.S., obesity rates are greater among rural residents than their urban and suburban counterparts. Store‐based nutrition interventions have been tested as a strategy to increase healthy food availability in urban areas, yet it is unknown how well these interventions translate to a rural setting. Four small food stores in rural Maryland received a 4‐month, quasi‐experimental pilot intervention, and 4 stores served as comparison. Study stores were selected by evaluating food availability in each eligible store, then randomly selecting and recruiting from a sampling frame of stores with low and medium food availability. From pre to post‐intervention, stocking of healthy foods increased in intervention stores, compared with control stores, and psychosocial factors of intervention storeowners trended positively compared to control storeowners. The study demonstrated that rural small store interventions to increase the stocking and promotion of healthy foods can result in increased healthy food availability and increases in store owners stocking and sales expectations. Working in small stores in low‐income rural settings may be a feasible means of improving the availability of healthy foods in rural communities with the potential to increase consumption of healthier foods. Supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (grant number 3U58DP001972–01S2).