Increasing Healthy Food Access for Low-Income Communities: Protocol of the Healthy Community Stores Case Study Project

Authors

Joel Gittelsohn, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MDFollow
Christina M. Kasprzak, Department of Community Health and Health Behavior, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
Alex B. Hill, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Wayne State University, Detroit, MIFollow
Samantha M. Sundermeir, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Melissa N. Laska, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Rachael D. Dombrowski, Division of Kinesiology, Health and Sport Studies, College of Education, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Julia DeAngelo, Departments of Health Policy Management & Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA
Angela Odoms-Young, Division of Nutritional Sciences, College of Human Ecology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Lucia A. Leone, Department of Community Health and Health Behavior, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Improving healthy food access in low-income communities continues to be a public health challenge. One strategy for improving healthy food access has been to introduce community food stores, with the mission of increasing healthy food access; however, no study has explored the experiences of different initiatives and models in opening and sustaining healthy food stores. This study used a case study approach to understand the experiences of healthy food stores in low-income communities. The purpose of this paper is to describe the methodology used and protocol followed. A case study approach was used to describe seven healthy food stores across urban settings in the U.S. Each site individually coded their cases, and meetings were held to discuss emerging and cross-cutting themes. A cross-case analysis approach was used to produce a series of papers detailing the results of each theme. Most case studies were on for-profit, full-service grocery stores, with store sizes ranging from 900 to 65,000 square feet. Healthy Food Availability scores across sites ranged from 11.6 (low) to 26.5 (high). The papers resulting from this study will detail the key findings of the case studies and will focus on the challenges, strategies, and experiences of retail food stores attempting to improve healthy food access for disadvantaged communities. The work presented in this special issue will help to advance research in the area of community food stores, and the recommendations can be used by aspiring, new, and current community food store owners.

Disciplines

Advertising and Promotion Management | Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics | Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations | Food Security | Food Studies | Health Policy | Public Policy | Urban Studies | Urban Studies and Planning

Comments

© The Author(s) 2022. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), and indicate if changes were made (no changes were made).

Recommended Citation

Gittelsohn, J., Kasprzak, C. M., Hill, A. B., Sundermeir, S. M., Laska, M. N., Dombrowski, R. D., ... & Leone, L. A. (2022). Increasing Healthy Food Access for Low-Income Communities: Protocol of the Healthy Community Stores Case Study Project. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(2), 690. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19020690