Barriers and Facilitators to Successful Food-Based Interventions for Food Insecurity (2023)

Undergraduate: Kevin Pignone

Faculty Advisor: Darren DeWalt
Department: Health Policy and Management

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Hypertension, or high blood pressure, affects almost 116 million U.S. adults, and can lead to life-threatening complications. Hypertension can be exacerbated by food insecurity. Healthy Food First is a randomized control trial (RCT) that seeks to improve blood pressure management for those who are food insecure through testing food delivery, food subsidy, and health coaching’s effect on blood pressure control. 12 patients were interviewed to understand how, why, and under what circumstances the interventions did or did not work as intended. Patients reported that food subsidies allowed for choice in selecting healthy foods, but were confusing to use. Patients also reported that food deliveries were convenient, but resulted in them receiving foods they didn’t prefer. Health coaching helped patients with finding healthy alternatives and changing their diet pattern. This study is the first to evaluate the combined intervention of food delivery or food subsidy along with health coaching, however the quantitative results from the parent RCT are forthcoming. This study finds that future implementation of diet pattern interventions to improve food security—and ultimately improve hypertension control—must be informed by previous food insecurity studies.

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