Researchers at Case Western Reserve University co-authored an article that was published in Society of Behavioral Medicine, Volume 9, Issue 5.
The authors were:
- Allison Schlosser, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Bioethics;
- Kakul Joshi, a predoctoral scholar in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences and a former Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods (PRCHN) staff project manager;
- Samantha Smith, data analyst for the Cuyahoga County Board of Health;
- Anna Thornton Matos, project director of the Community & Collaboration of the Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative;
- Shari Bolen, assistant professor of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics; and
- Erika S. Trapl, associate professor of the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences and associate director of PRCHN.
The work, titled “‘The Coupons and Stuff Just Made It Possible’: Economic Constraints and Patient Experiences of a Produce Prescription Program,” was based on the researchers’ qualitative study of patient experience of a three-month PRx program for hypertension (PRxHTN), including three safety-net clinics and 20 farmers’ markets.
The article discussed the implications of how economic constraints influence participant experience.
From their study, the researchers assert that future PRx programs should bolster economic and institutional support beyond farmer’s market vouchers, such as transportation assistance, partnering with local food banks and expansion to local grocery stores offering year-round fruit and vegetable access to support sustained behavior change. Additionally, structural competency tools may be useful.