Improving food purchasing selection among Spanish-speaking Hispanic families

This research project evaluated the efficacy of a low-literacy educational intervention to increase knowledge about healthy food and to modify food purchasing behavior. The ultimate goal of the intervention is to contribute to efforts to reduce and prevent obesity among low-income Spanish-speaking Latino families.  The low-literacy food shopping tool used in this project is a video, called “el carrito saludable,” (the healthy shopping cart) that instructs how to do select healthy, low-budget food. The tool was administered by promotoras (health promoters) working in faith-based community settings.

The study was conducted in one of the poorest cities in Massachusetts with a high concentration of Latinos. A total of 120 families were randomized to either the intervention or the comparison group using a cluster randomized trial. Participants were randomized by churches.  

Measured outcomes included: (a) motivational readiness to eat the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables per day; (b) healthy eating value; and (c) healthy food purchasing behavior by calculating the processed/non-processed food ratio using participants’ receipts of grocery purchases both at baseline and after being exposed to “el carrito saludable” or “¿Qué hay en su plato?” (comparison group) tools. At 3-month follow-up participants were asked to report the foods that were served in their households 24 hours prior the follow-up interview.

Preliminary findings indicate that grocery shopping receipts from participants assigned to the intervention group demonstrated statistically significant changes in the proportion of healthy food (i.e., more non-processed food) from baseline to post-intervention than participants in the comparison group.