Barriers and Motivators for Grocery Store Stakeholders Implementing Fruit and Vegetable Incentive Programs

Background

In recent years, there has been an increase in Produce Incentive Programs (PIPs) to motivate low-income families to purchase fresh produce. Research examining best practices for implementation of these program remains limited.

Objective

To examine barriers and motivators for implementing PIPs in grocery store settings.

Study Design, Settings, Participants

In depth, semi-structured interviews (via Zoom) were conducted with grocery store stakeholders involved in the Double Up Food Bucks New York (DUFBNY) PIP serving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries. Study participants included DUFBNY program staff who support DUFBNY grocery stores and their employees. Recruitment flyers were emailed to program staff and DUFBNY grocery stores. This study was conducted between February 2023 and September 2023.

Measurable Outcome/Analysis

Two research assistants independently coded interviews transcripts in Atlas.ti. using a mixed deductive (ie, interview questions guided some of the coding) and inductive (ie, open coding was used to allow codes to emerge from the data) approach. The outcomes assessed were program perceptions, barriers, and motivators.

Results

Participants (n=18, 5 program staff and 13 grocery store workers) underscored perceived barriers and motivators for implementation: 1) program differences (barrier), 2) staff burden (barrier), 3) community engagement (motivator) and 4) PIP recipients’ enthusiasm (motivator). In order for the program to run at different types of stores, there were several variations in the way the program was implemented. These differences often created confusion among stakeholders. The program created some burden for grocery store staff, as the transaction process was often cumbersome. Despite these challenges, both community engagement and participant enthusiasm were mentioned as a priority, and motivated interviewees’ continued support of the program.

Conclusions

Although grocery stores implementing PIPs can find these initiatives to be valuable, more research is needed into how PIPs can be implemented across multiple consumer food environments, and how to ease the burden off grocery store workers. Collaboration between different stakeholders is necessary for achieving program growth and sustainability.

Funding

USDA