Examining the association between obesity and access to farmers markets

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究将在居住在北卡罗来纳州东部的21至44岁的不同群体的城市和农村妇女中进行。研究妇女是因为她们主要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。我们建议利用独特的参与者招募机会，通过cdc资助的当地卫生部门计划生育诊所的研究，从较大的研究中招募一部分参与者，进行主要的定性数据收集工作，以检查不同人口群体的妇女所看到的社区背景和“食物活动空间”（目标1）。在目标2中，我们将开发和实施农贸市场测绘的标准方法。然后，我们将使用目标1和2中收集的数据，使用通过cdc资助的当地卫生部门研究（目标3）招募的更大的妇女样本（n = 1000）进行二次数据分析。该项目的成功完成将在以下三个方面推动公共卫生营养领域向前发展：(1)通过参与者量化和描述其活动空间，确定不同妇女之间的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)使确定农贸市场的方法标准化，这将使其他人能够准确地量化并向消费者和公共卫生从业人员传播有关市场的信息。(3)进一步明确农贸市场准入方面的差异，以及农贸市场准入与肥胖之间的潜在联系。

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.