Developing a Support Application for Food Pantries (SAFPAS) to Improve Client Access to Healthy Foods & Enhance Emergency Preparedness

项目总结 粮食银行和粮食储藏室是解决粮食不安全问题的关键社区机构，粮食不安全是 与肥胖、心血管疾病、2型糖尿病和癌症有关。成效和效率 粮食援助方案的执行受到许多因素的制约，包括：招募和培训 工作人员/志愿者；满足客户对可接受的、健康的选择的需求；并提供实时信息 计划和应急行动。2020年，新冠肺炎疫情加剧了所有这些问题， 继续这样做。在大流行之前、期间和之后，对食品储藏室的有效管理是一个首要问题。 优先级由于资源有限，通信往往是分散的，内部适应能力 在线环境的做法几乎是不存在的。此外，食品储藏室的志愿者，通常是老年人，是 食品储藏室的主要支持人员和最有可能对新冠肺炎健康造成严重影响的人。基于 大量的初步数据和二十多年致力于改善巴尔的摩食品的经验 系统，这项NHLBI临床试验试点研究将开发和试点工作的移动支持应用程序 食品储藏室(SAFPAS)应用程序(APP)以应对这些挑战。没有这样的应用程序提供功能 用于工作人员/志愿者的招募、培训和日程安排；营养教育和与客户的消息传递；保险箱 客户选择的形式；和/或目前应急准备和响应的双向通信 是存在的。我们与巴尔的摩食品储藏室和马里兰州食品银行工作人员的形成性研究发现 对一款结合了这些功能的应用程序的热情，就像我们最近对食品储藏室主任进行的全国调查一样。 这项研究将开发和试点该应用程序，并评估其可行性和对食品配餐室工作人员应急的影响 巴尔的摩健康食品和饮料的准备、储备和客户接受情况，包括以下内容 目标：1)开发和优化技术稳定、功能强大的应用程序，以改善 巴尔的摩；2)与巴尔的摩的食品储藏室和客户马里兰食品公司一起试行SAFPAS应用程序 银行和巴尔的摩紧急行动中心团队，并评估其可行性；以及3)评估 低收入人群抽样调查SAFPAS对食品加油站顾客食品健康的影响 城市客户(基线)，从20个食品储藏室随机抽取，在干预前后进行测量 受控飞行员试验。调查结果将使我们能够：1)生产功能正常且可接受的应用程序；2)提供 用于未来全面试验的功率计算的初步数据；3)产生和改进影响和过程 评估工具和制定的执行标准；以及4)制定协议并展示我们的 能够招募和留住食品储藏室和食品储藏室客户。我们将评估该应用程序的潜在可扩展性 通过与底特律的食品储藏室工作人员和客户进行形成性和可行性评估。调查结果 这项R34研究将支持一项全面的临床试验，该试验将测试SAFPAS应用程序的多城市部署 并评估其对食品储藏室客户健康结果、饮食和食品安全的影响。

PROJECT SUMMARY Food banks and food pantries are critical community-based institutions for addressing food insecurity, which is associated with obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. The effectiveness and efficiency of food assistance programs are constrained by many factors, including: recruitment and training of of staff/volunteers; meeting client needs for acceptable, healthy choices; and providing real-time information for planning and emergency operations. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated all of these problems and continues to do so. The effective management of food pantries, before, during, and after the pandemic, is a top priority as resources are limited, communications are often decentralized, and the in-house ability to adapt practices to an online setting is nearly non-existent. As well, pantry volunteers, commonly older adults, are both the main support staff at food pantries and the most at risk for severe COVID-19 health effects. Based on substantial preliminary data and more than two decades of experience working to improve Baltimore’s food system, this NHLBI Clinical Trial Pilot Study will develop and pilot a working mobile Support Application for Food PAntrieS (SAFPAS) application (app) to address these challenges. No such app that offers capabilities for staff/volunteer recruitment, training, and scheduling; nutrition education and messaging with clients; a safe form of client choice; and/or bidirectional communications for emergency preparedness and response currently exists. Our formative research with Baltimore food pantry and Maryland Food Bank personnel found high enthusiasm for an app that combines these features, as did our recent national survey of food pantry directors. This study will develop and pilot the app, and evaluate its feasibility and impact on food pantry staff emergency preparedness, stocking, and client uptake of healthful foods and beverages in Baltimore, with the following aims: 1) to develop and optimize a technically stable, functional app to improve food pantry services in Baltimore; 2) to pilot the SAFPAS app with Baltimore-based food pantries and clients, the Maryland Food Bank, and Baltimore’s Emergency Operations Center team, and assess its feasibility; and 3) to evaluate the impact of SAFPAS on the healthiness of foods received by food pantry clients in a sample of 360 low-income urban clients (at baseline), drawn from 20 pantries measured pre- and post-intervention in a randomized controlled pilot trial. Findings will allow us to: 1) produce a functional and acceptable app; 2) provide preliminary data for power calculations for a future full-scale trial; 3) generate and refine impact and process evaluation instruments and set standards for implementation; and 4) establish protocols and demonstrate our ability to recruit and retain food pantries and food pantry clients. We will assess potential scalability of the app by conducting formative and feasibility assessments with food pantry staff and clients in Detroit. The findings from this R34 study will support a full-scale clinical trial that will test a multi-city deployment of the SAFPAS app and assess its impact on food pantry client health outcomes, diet, and food security.