Social Validity of Coupon Incentives to Drive Increased Purchase and Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables among Lower Income Households

Background: Studies have tested interventions to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among low-income populations. However, little attention has been dedicated to the social validity of these studies; in other words integrating participant experience and perspective about being a part of such research as one element in assessing the trustworthiness of the data. Methods: We conducted a pilot study that used coupons as incentives to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among long income households. The study was conducted with 30 adult shoppers of a supermarket in Northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Store purchases were tracked over a three month period of time. Follow up telephone interviews were conducted to understand the participant study experience. Descriptive statistics and qualitative analyses were used to assess social validity. Results: The majority of participants (89.6%) agreed or strongly agreed that being a part of the study positively impacted their purchasing of fruits and vegetables., Participants reported using the coupons to purchase fruits and vegetables that were more nutritious, organic, and/or not usually available in the household. Difficulties in using the study coupons were also identified and reasons provided focused on logistics and time expirations. Additional learnings from participation will be discussed in more detail. Conclusions: Data collected from participants about their study experience provide important evidence about the social validity of the research and are essential in guiding future research.