Food Insecurity and Health-Related Quality of Life among SNAP Nutrition Incentive Participants

ABSTRACT

The Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB) Heartland project is a USDA Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive funded program designed to incentivize the purchase of fruits and vegetables (FV) by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) clients. This study examined the influence of DUFB Heartland on food security, FV intake, and health-related quality of life. Food-insecure SNAP participants experienced physically (p < .05, d = 0.26) or mentally (p < .001, d = 0.40) unhealthy days more often than those who were food secure. Food-insecure respondents reported more positive effects from DUFB Heartland compared to food-secure respondents (p < .01, V = 0.20).

KEYWORDS:

• Food insecurity
• fruit and vegetable consumption
• health-related quality of life
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

Acknowledgments

Sincere gratitude is extended to the partners of DUFB Heartland, including Mid-America Regional Council with sincere appreciation to Donna Martin, East West Gateway Council of Governments, Fair Food Network, and Cultivate Kansas City. The evaluation team also extends our appreciation to those individuals who took the time to participate in the surveys. Finally, we want to express our gratitude to the research assistants who have contributed to the evaluation of the DUFB project, particularly Rose-Bertine Mercier.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to ongoing data collection but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2016-70025-25249.