Giving Families a Voice for Equitable Healthy Food Access in the Era of Online Grocery Shopping
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Report Publish Date: October 19, 2022
This journal article describes a study of the views of grocery shoppers from low-income households with young children. In focus groups and one-on-one interviews, they discussed inequities in food access.
Primary Takeaways
Participants said income inequality, high prices, poverty, lack of transportation, and neighborhood segregation cause inequities in their access to healthy food. They also said older adults and people with disabilities faced more difficulties than others when they wanted to get groceries, online and in person.
Participants reported that COVID-19 had made it more difficult for their families to get healthy food. They said SNAP and online grocery services could help people get more healthy food, but that food costs and delivery fees plus mistrust of hired shoppers got in the way.
Participants discussed the social stigma of using SNAP benefits and how some stores don’t accept them. The authors say expanding online access could reduce stigma, since people who provide grocery shopping and delivery services don’t know how people pay for their groceries online.
Overview and Objectives
“Understanding the views of families from low-income backgrounds about inequities in healthy food access and grocery purchase is critical to food access policies,” the authors write. They wanted to hear directly from the family members who do most of the grocery shopping for low-income households with young children about their experiences buying groceries online and in person and their opinions about why some people have less access to healthy food.
Hypothesis or Approach
“Understanding the views of families from low-income backgrounds about inequities in healthy food access and grocery purchase is critical to food access policies,” the authors write. They wanted to hear directly from the family members who do most of the grocery shopping for low-income households with young children about their experiences buying groceries online and in person and their opinions about why some people have less access to healthy food.
How This Influences Change
Understanding the views of people who face barriers to getting healthy food for their families can help policy makers and food justice advocates design policies and programs that help to overcome identified barriers and promote equitable access to healthy food.
Research: Go Deeper
Understanding the views of families from low-income backgrounds about inequities in healthy food access and grocery purchase is critical to food access policies. This study explored perspectives of families eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) on healthy food access in physical and online grocery environments. The qualitative design used purposive sampling of 44 primary household food purchasers with children (aged ≤ 8), between November 2020–March 2021, through 11 online focus groups and 5 in-depth interviews. Grounded theory was used to identify community-level perceived inequities, including influences of COVID-19 pandemic, SNAP and online grocery services. The most salient perceived causes of inequitable food access were neighborhood resource deficiencies and public transportation limitations. Rural communities, people with disabilities, older adults, racially and ethnically diverse groups were perceived to be disproportionately impacted by food inequities, which were exacerbated by the pandemic. The ability to use SNAP benefits to buy foods online facilitated healthy food access. Delivery fees and lack of control over food selection were barriers. Barriers to healthy food access aggravated by SNAP included social stigma, inability to acquire cooked meals, and inadequate amount of monthly funds. Findings provide a foundation for policy redesign to promote equitable healthy food systems.
Nutrients 2022, https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu14204377
Research Team
This study and report were conducted and created by the following people.
- Gabriela M. Vedovato
- Shahmir H. Ali
- Caitlin M. Lowery
- Angela C. B. Trude
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