Research Project Summary
This project aims to improve community health by developing and deploying an informational text message intervention program targeted at adult residents and their families in Salem, NJ and surrounding communities. The research aligns with the launch of a healthy food grocery store, nutrition education hub, and community resource center currently dubbed the “Salem City Healthy Food Market” (the Market).
The Market’s development is spearheaded by the Ranch Hope non-profit in collaboration with a range of stakeholders. Participants will be recruited at the Market and randomly assigned to one of two groups: a treatment group and a control group. At the start of the study, both groups will complete a pre-test survey that will assess overall eating habits, fruit and vegetable consumption, knowledge, attitudes, and intentions towards a healthy diet, as well as self-reported individual and family health status; a discount for future produce purchases will be offered as an incentive. The treatment group will then receive weekly informational and educational text messages about healthy produce available at the Market throughout the six-month study period, while the control group will receive no informational messages. Once per month, both groups will be asked to respond to a brief text message survey about their recent fruit and vegetable consumption. At the end of the six months, all participants will be invited to complete a post-test survey and offered a post-test produce discount incentive.
Research Project Goals
We aim to address food and nutrition-related social determinants of health by improving healthy food access, incentivizing healthy eating, and offering educational support.
Research Project Objectives
The primary objective of this research will be to design, deploy, and evaluate a text message intervention program for Market customers to measurably improve fruit and vegetable consumption, as well as self-reported health status. A secondary outcome will be the cultivation of a multi-sectoral applied research partnership that is positioned to advance future health promotion projects via engagement with the Market.