A Systems Approach to Understanding the Interacting Factors of the Local Food Environment for Population Health

节目概要 当地的食物环境--或者说人们从哪里获得食物和饮料--可能会有戏剧性的影响。 对人群健康和健康行为的影响。然而，当地食品环境与 人口健康问题十分复杂。例如，有证据表明，食物的健康行为和 饮料购买可能会受到环境特征的影响，例如商店中的食物供应， 还有个人特征，如体重状况和经济资源。此外， 食品商店可以受到顾客购买的东西、经理的特点，如他们的看法， 客户需求的变化，以及商店以外的功能，例如食品分销商的可用性。这一广泛 相互作用、多层次、跨学科的因素组合，是一个复杂的系统， 对理解如何干预以改善人群健康和行为的影响。迄今为止 大多数与饮食有关的人群健康和食品环境研究对以下方面的考虑有限： 这种复杂性。利用尖端的系统科学方法，如基于代理的建模， 有潜力捕捉这些多层次因素之间的动态，并深入了解最突出的 以干预措施和政策为目标的机制。因此，我寻求这个独立之路奖 为了获得建立独立研究项目所需的额外培训和指导， 严格调查当地食品环境中这些复杂，相互和动态的驱动因素， 人口健康。为了实现这一目标，一个多方面的培训计划将发生在该奖项的指导 阶段获得额外的技能和知识：（1）系统科学建模，（2）食品环境研究， 行为经济学。该奖项独立阶段的研究目标是：（目标1） 描述影响现有和购买的食品和饮料的相对健康的因素， （目标2）开发、测试和验证基于代理的系统科学 模型，捕捉多层次的组成部分和动态的相互作用，有助于人口模式， 在商店购买和提供的食物和饮料的健康程度;以及（目标3）调查 机制，导致客户食品和饮料购买和健康的可观察模式， 不健康的食物供应。除了从利益相关者群体收集基本的定性数据外， 拟议的研究将利用现有的纵向观察和调查数据集从美国国立卫生研究院- STAPLE Foods ORdinance Evaluation（STORE）研究。建议的培训和研究 这些活动将使我做好准备，以便成功竞争随后的R 01资金，这些资金将测试干预措施， 建议改善美国食品环境和饮食相关健康的政策 人口健康。

PROGRAM SUMMARY The local food environment—or where people obtain their food and beverages—may have dramatic implications for population health and health behavior. Yet, the links between the local food environment and population health are rife with complexity. For instance, evidence supports that the health behavior of food and beverage purchasing can be influenced by environmental features, such as food availability in the store, but also individual features, such as weight status and economic resources. Additionally, what is made available in food stores can be influenced by what customers purchase, manager characteristics, such as their perceptions of customer demand, and beyond store features, such as the availability of food distributors. This broad arrangement of interacting, multi-level, and discipline-crossing factors indicates a complex system with implications for understanding how to intervene to improve population health and behavior. To date, the majority of dietary-related population health and food environment research has had limited consideration for this complexity. Leveraging cutting-edge system science approaches, such as agent-based modeling, has the potential to capture the dynamics among these multi-level factors and generate insights into the most salient mechanisms to target with interventions and policies. Thus, I am seeking this Pathway to Independence Award in order to gain the additional training and mentorship required to establish an independent research program that rigorously investigates these complex, reciprocal, and dynamic drivers in the local food environment for population health. To achieve this goal, a multifaceted training plan will occur during the award's mentored phase to gain additional skills and knowledge in: (1) system science modeling, (2) food environment research, and (3) behavioral economics. The aims of the research during the award's independent phase are to: (Aim 1) describe the factors that influence the relative healthfulness of food and beverages available and purchased, as perceived by different stakeholder groups; (Aim 2) develop, test, and validate systems science agent-based models that capture the multi-level components and dynamic interactions contributing to population patterns of the healthfulness of food and beverages purchased and made available in stores; and (Aim 3) investigate the mechanisms that lead to observable patterns in customer food and beverage purchasing and healthy-to- unhealthy food availability. In addition to collecting foundational qualitative data from stakeholder groups, the proposed research will leverage an existing dataset of longitudinal observational and survey data from the NIH- funded STaple foods ORdinance Evaluation (STORE) Study. Together, the proposed training and research activities will prepare me to successfully compete for subsequent R01 funding that will test interventions and policies recommended to improve the healthfulness of the U.S. food environment and dietary-related population health.