Examining the association between obesity and access to farmers markets

描述(申请人提供)：这项研究将在居住在北卡罗来纳州东部的21岁至44岁的不同城市和农村妇女群体中进行。女性的研究主要是因为她们主要是为家庭成员购买和准备食物，因此对家庭成员的饮食习惯有重大影响。我们建议利用一个独特的参与者招募机会，通过当地卫生部门计划生育诊所的疾控中心资助的研究，从更大的研究中招募参与者的子集，参与初步的定性数据收集工作，以检查不同人口统计群体的妇女所认为的社区背景和“食物活动空间”(目标1)。在目标2中，我们将制定和实施一种绘制农贸市场地图的标准方法。然后，我们将使用AIMS 1和AIMS 2中收集的数据，对通过疾病预防控制中心资助的研究在当地卫生部门(AIMS 3)招募的更大样本的妇女(n=1000)进行二次数据分析。该项目的成功完成将从以下三个方面推动公共健康营养领域的发展：(1)通过使用参与者来量化和描述她们的活动空间，确定不同女性之间邻里和食物活动空间的地理边界和特征。这将使未来的研究人员能够更准确地估计地理信息系统中的缓冲区大小。(2)标准化确定农贸市场的方法，这将使其他人能够准确地量化和向消费者和公共卫生从业者传播市场信息。(3)更清楚地说明进入农贸市场的差距，以及进入农贸市场与肥胖之间的潜在联系。 公共卫生相关性：肥胖是一个压倒性的公共卫生问题，需要社区层面的解决方案。在这里，我们建议将定性访谈、挡风玻璃之旅和地理信息系统的数据结合起来，以：(A)定义和检查不同女性所认为的社区背景和“食品活动空间”；(B)制定专门与农贸市场有关的食品环境的高质量衡量标准；(C)检查潜在的准入差距，以及1000名不同女性进入农贸市场与体重状况之间的关联。结果将为未来的研究和承诺的环境和政策变化提供信息，以减少肥胖。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This study will be conducted among a diverse group of urban and rural women between the ages of 21 and 44 years residing in eastern North Carolina. Women are studied as they are primarily shopping for and preparing family members' food, and thus have a major influence on family member's dietary practices. We propose to use a unique participant recruiting opportunity through a CDC-funded study in the local health department family planning clinic, to enroll a subset of participants from the larger study into a primary qualitative data collection effort to examine neighborhood context and "food activity spaces" as viewed by women of diverse demographic groups (Aim 1). In Aim 2, we will develop and implement a standard method for mapping farmers' markets. We will then use data collected in Aims 1 and 2 to conduct a secondary data analysis using a larger sample of women (n = 1000) recruited through the CDC-funded study in the local health department (Aim 3). The successful completion of this project will move the field of public health nutrition forward in the following three ways: (1) Determine the geographic boundaries and features of neighborhood and food activity spaces among diverse women by using participants to quantify and describe their activity spaces. This will allow future researchers to more accurately estimate buffer size in Geographic Information Systems. (2) Standardize the methodology for identifying farmers' markets, which will allow others to accurately quantify and disseminate information about markets to consumers and public health practitioners. (3) Provide greater clarity regarding disparities in access to farmers' markets and regarding potential associations between access to farmers' markets and obesity. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Obesity is an overwhelming public health problem necessitating community-level solutions. Here we propose to combine data from qualitative interviews, windshield tours, and a geographic information system to: (a) define and examine neighborhood context and "food activity spaces" as viewed by diverse women; (b) develop a high-quality measure of the food environment specifically related to farmers' markets; and (c) examine potential access disparities, as well as the association between access to farmers' markets and weight status among 1000 diverse women. Results will inform future research and promising environmental and policy changes to decrease obesity.