Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods Director Elaine Borawski, Associate Director Erika Trapl and affiliated faculty member Darcy Freedman are among the co-authors of a paper published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Their paper was titled “Socioecological Path Analytic Model of Diet Quality among Residents in Two Urban Food Deserts.”
The goal of the research was to model direct and indirect relationships among healthy eating identity, perceived control of healthy eating, social support for healthy eating, food retail choice block scores, perceptions of healthy food availability, and food shopping behaviors and diet quality measured using Healthy Eating Index-2010 scores for residents living in two urban communities defined as food deserts.
Findings highlight the need for tailored dietary intervention approaches even within demographically comparable communities. Interventions aimed at improving diet quality among residents living in food deserts may need to focus on enhancing healthy eating identity using culturally relevant approaches while at the same time addressing the need for transportation supports to access healthy food retailers located farther away.