141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

284686
Low-income residents' perceptions of corner store owners: Implications for healthy store projects

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 8:50 AM - 9:10 AM

Lara Jaskiewicz, PhD, MBA, MPH , School of Public, Nonprofit, and Health Administration, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, MI
Rachael Dombrowski, MPH , Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago, Suburban Cook County Communities Putting Prevention to Work, Oak Park, IL
Gina Massuda Barnett, MPH , Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion, Cook County Department of Public Health, Oak Forest, IL
Steven Seweryn, EdD, MPH , Community Epidemiology and Health Planning Unit, Cook County Department of Public Health, Oak Forest, IL
Maryann Mason, PhD , Pediatrics/CMRC, Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL
INTRODUCTION: Despite the growing use of corner stores as a means to increase access to healthy foods in food swamps, little has been published about local customers' perceptions of such stores. And less is known about customers' willingness to accept healthy changes in those sites. METHODS: Customers of stores participating in a suburban Cook County, IL, Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative healthy corner store project were recruited to participate in focus groups. The majority of the 51 participants were low-income residents of 6 municipalities in which the stores were located. RESULTS: Perceptions of store owner friendliness and engagement in the community were related to participant openness to the idea of healthy food shopping in a given store. Differences existed between African American and Latino participants in their descriptions of the owners of their local stores, with Latino participants having more positive comments. Responses to different types of promotional activities varied by municipality. DISCUSSION: Gaining customer input prior to implementing a healthy corner store project may increase shopper receptiveness and project success.

Learning Areas:
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Program planning

Learning Objectives:
Explain the importance of assessing customer perceptions prior to implementing a healthy corner store project. Identify potential customer concerns with corner store owners.

Keywords: Evaluation, Food and Nutrition

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I developed and managed the program evaluation that will be partially presented. My area of research interest is food access.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.