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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Christopher E. Smith, BS¹, Elizabeth A. Baker, PhD², Cheryl Kelly, MPH¹, Jennifer Strayhorn³, and Mario Schootman, PhD⁴. (1) School of Public Health, Saint Louis University, Salus Center, 3545 Lafayette Ave, Saint Louis, MO 63104, 314-977-4669, smith29@slu.edu, (2) Schoo of Public Health, Saint Louis University, Salus Center, 3545 Lafayette Ave, Saint Louis, MO 63104, (3) Hopebuild, Hopebuild, 3545 Lafayette Ave, Saint Louis, MO 63104, (4) Health Behavior Research, Washington University of St. Louis-School of Medicine, 4444 Forest Park Ave, Saint Louis, MO 63108

Introduction: The Garden of Eden (GOE) is a partnership between faith, business, and academic entities. We hoped to change lifestyle behaviors and foster healthy choice by creating supportive community infrastructures, via (1) the operation of a produce market, (2) increasing knowledge and skills regarding fruits/ vegetables, and (3) developing dialogue about community infrastructures and resources.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the most effective outreach/ communication strategy used to disseminate information about GOE.

Methods: Methods included: analysis of in-depth interviews with health advocates who conducted community outreach presentations, shuttle tracking forms, review of utilization of promotional coupons, and statistical information provided by cross-sectional survey items.

Results: Interviews indicated that the health advocates felt inadequately prepared to market the store, a more financially comprehensive population should have been targeted, and continuous support from church leadership is required. Van tracking indicated that use was influenced by pick up site. Data suggested gaps in the incentive process with coupons being distributed, but under-utilized. Cross tabulation of survey measures pointed to “word of mouth” being the best communication strategy.

Conclusion: The results demonstrate that structured communication strategies were not as effective as customer “word of mouth” dissemination. This suggests that future communication strategies should act via this mechanism and primarily be targeted at faith-based and community entities.

Learning Objectives:

• 1)Identify the benefits and costs of various communication strategies.
• 2)Describe the dynamics of structured communication strategies implemented in a faith based community setting.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered