The British Columbia Farmers’ Market Nutrition Coupon Program Reduces Short-Term Household Food Insecurity Among Adults With Low Incomes: A Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jand.2023.10.001
• Publication Date: 2023-10-06T16:02:58Z
• Authors: Michelle L. Aktary; Sharlette Dunn; Tolulope Sajobi; Heather O’Hara; Peter Leblanc; Gavin R. McCormack; Stephanie Caron-Roy; Yun Yun Lee; Raylene A. Reimer; Leia M. Minaker; Kim D. Raine; Jenny Godley; Shauna Downs; Candace I.J. Nyki...; Dana Lee Olstad
• Keywords: 2. Zero hunger; Adult; Farmers; British Columbia; psychosocial well-being; Malnutrition; 1. No poverty; Health Surveys; 3. Good health; Food Supply; Food Insecurity; randomized controlled trial; Humans; healthy food subsidy; low-income; household food insecurity

Secondary analyses from a pragmatic randomized controlled trial conducted in 2019 that collected data at baseline, post-intervention, and 16 weeks post-intervention.<br/>Adults ≥18 years with low incomes were randomized to a FMNCP group (n=143) or a no-intervention control group (n=142).<br/>The British Columbia Farmers' Market Nutrition Coupon Program (BC FMNCP) provides households with low incomes with coupons to purchase healthy foods from farmers' markets.<br/>Participants in the FMNCP group received 16 coupon sheets valued at $21 Canadian dollars (CAD)/sheet over 10-15 weeks to purchase healthy foods from farmers' markets and were eligible to participate in nutrition skill-building activities.<br/>Outcomes included short-term household food insecurity (modified version of Health Canada's 18-item Household Food Security Survey Module), malnutrition risk (Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool), mental well-being (Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale), sense of community (Brief Sense of Community Scale), and subjective social status (MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status community scale).<br/>To examine the impact of the BC FMNCP on the short-term household food insecurity, malnutrition risk, mental well-being, sense of community (secondary outcomes), and subjective social status (exploratory outcome) of adults with low incomes post-intervention and 16 weeks post-intervention.<br/>