NSF Convergence Accelerator Track J: Increased Take-Up of Food Benefits and Consumption of Locally-Sourced Nutrient Dense Food among Vulnerable Populations (LOI L02619530)

NSF 融合加速器轨道 J：增加弱势群体对食品福利的接受和本地来源的营养丰富食品的消费（LOI L02619530）

• 批准号: 2236390
• 负责人: Jueyu Wu
• 金额: $ 75万
• 依托单位: University of California-Los Angeles
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-12-15 至 2024-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2236390&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Convergence; Accelerator; Track; Increased

Millions of college students do not have access to healthy and sustainable food, undermining their ability to graduate in a nation already witnessing one-third of college students drop out. Food and nutrition insecurity also disproportionally impacts minority and low-income students, aggravating social and economic disparities and depressing the nation’s health, education, and innovation outcomes. Unfortunately, there has not yet been sufficient research to reveal where changes to this problem could have the most impact. Different federally-funded programs address various aspects of this multifaceted problem—e.g., food access, nutrition education, and the purchase and consumption of fresh whole agricultural products—but none are sufficiently engaging enough of the eligible population to deliver the desired benefit.The current project meets this challenge with an effort to understand, converge, and improve participation in three national Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (SNAP): SNAP Outreach, SNAP-Ed, and SNAP Incentive. National program convergence will include insights across academic research and program evaluation to: 1) advance understanding of what impedes—and what can increase—engagement in food assistance programs and food security; and 2) guide, test, and refine evidence-based interventions for greater healthy food access and consumption among underserved student populations. The knowledge gained and disseminated may not only reveal social and behavioral determinants of participation in SNAP, but may also inform other social welfare programs with comparable goals and target populations. Ultimately, this work will accelerate the awareness, tandem use, and impact of programs to advance health and higher education outcomes across California, and the nation. The present project will establish convergent and actionable insights regarding the factors that drive participation in programs that address food insecurity and healthy food consumption. Led by a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional research team, the work unites methods and knowledge across psychology, economics, organizational science, statistics, and food and nutrition science. The research team also has multiple well-established SNAP contracts and the recognition from California Department of Social Services, Food and Nutrition Services, and United States Department of Agriculture. To gain a deep understanding of the interrelated issues preventing the widespread adoption of such benefits, the first prong of the project entails a series of semi-structured interviews, statewide surveys, program evaluations, and conceptual analyses to map out how different types of stigma and misperceptions affect SNAP participation rates and food security.A second prong of the project involves laboratory and field experiments to understand the operation of specific factors that promise positive impact, including: stigma reduction, awareness of nutrient-dense foods and SNAP benefits, and positive narratives around food security, food consumption, and food literacy.The third prong of the project comprises an empirical evaluation of network pathways to maximizing the impact of promising interventions. This involves identifying the structure of social networks among SNAP-eligible college students, then intervening through those networks to correct misbeliefs about food assistance and to replace stigmatizing narratives around food assistance programs with empowering ones.Finally, the project will synthesize learnings from the above activities into a handbook identifying key gaps and blindspots supporting the persistence of college food insecurity, while recommending specific, scalable strategies to overcome them.The proposed work offers significant practical and theoretical merit. Practically, it will produce actionable recommendations for program design informed by convergent scientific literatures, evaluations of extant practice, and empirical research using multiple methods. Theoretically, it will establish new insights into the operation and impact of stigma, awareness, narrative, and other as yet undiscovered factors driving attitudes and behaviors toward food in social contexts. Together, these advances can catalyze both understanding and effectiveness of efforts to establish nationwide food security.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

数以百万计的大学生无法获得健康和可持续的食物，在一个已经有三分之一的大学生辍学的国家，这削弱了他们毕业的能力。粮食和营养不安全也对少数族裔和低收入家庭的学生产生了不成比例的影响，加剧了社会和经济差距，抑制了国家的卫生、教育和创新成果。不幸的是，目前还没有足够的研究来揭示在哪些方面改变这个问题会产生最大的影响。不同的联邦资助项目解决了这一多方面问题的各个方面。，食品获取，营养教育，以及购买和消费新鲜的完整农产品，但没有一个能够充分吸引足够的符合条件的人口来实现预期的效益。当前的项目为应对这一挑战，努力理解、整合和提高三个国家补充营养援助计划（SNAP）的参与度：SNAP外联计划、SNAP教育计划和SNAP激励计划。国家项目融合将包括学术研究和项目评估方面的见解，以：1)促进对阻碍和可以增加粮食援助项目和粮食安全参与的因素的理解；2)指导、测试和完善以证据为基础的干预措施，为服务不足的学生群体提供更多的健康食品获取和消费。所获得和传播的知识不仅可以揭示参与SNAP的社会和行为决定因素，还可以为其他具有类似目标和目标人群的社会福利项目提供信息。最终，这项工作将加速意识、串联使用和影响项目，以促进加州和全国的健康和高等教育成果。本项目将对推动人们参与解决粮食不安全和健康食品消费的项目的因素建立统一的、可操作的见解。在一个多学科、多机构的研究团队的领导下，这项工作将心理学、经济学、组织科学、统计学以及食品和营养科学的方法和知识结合起来。该研究小组还签订了多项完善的SNAP合同，并获得了加州社会服务部、食品和营养服务部以及美国农业部的认可。为了深入了解阻碍此类福利广泛采用的相关问题，项目的第一步需要进行一系列半结构化访谈、全州调查、项目评估和概念分析，以确定不同类型的污名和误解如何影响SNAP参与率和粮食安全。该项目的第二个方面包括实验室和实地实验，以了解有望产生积极影响的特定因素的运作，包括：减少耻辱感，对营养丰富的食物和SNAP益处的认识，以及围绕粮食安全、食品消费和食品素养的积极叙述。该项目的第三个方面包括对网络途径的实证评估，以最大限度地发挥有希望的干预措施的影响。这包括识别符合snap条件的大学生的社会网络结构，然后通过这些网络进行干预，纠正对食品援助的错误看法，并以授权的方式取代围绕食品援助项目的污名化叙述。最后，该项目将综合上述活动的经验教训，编写一本手册，确定支持大学粮食不安全持续存在的关键差距和盲点，同时建议克服这些问题的具体、可扩展的战略。所提出的工作具有重要的实践和理论价值。实际上，它将通过汇集科学文献、现有实践评估和使用多种方法的实证研究，为程序设计提供可操作的建议。从理论上讲，它将为在社会背景下驱动对食物的态度和行为的污名、意识、叙述和其他尚未发现的因素的运作和影响建立新的见解。总之，这些进步可以促进对建立国家粮食安全的努力的理解和有效性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。