Participant Perceptions of a Free Fresh Produce Market at a Health Center

Abstract

Objective: To examine participant perceptions of a free, monthly produce market at a health center in Massachusetts.

Design: Participants were recruited at a produce market between June 2019 and January 2020 and engaged in a 30-65-minute focus group (n = 3 English language; n = 2 Spanish; n = 2 Arabic) conducted by trained facilitators using a semistructured guide.

Participants: Adults (n = 49) who had attended the market at least twice in the previous 6 months.

Main outcome measures: Participant-reported facilitators, barriers, perceived benefits, and opportunities for improvement.

Analysis: Conventional content analysis.

Results: Reported facilitators included accessibility (eg, convenient location and timing), program experience (eg, positive volunteer interactions), and characteristics of goods and services (eg, acceptable variety of produce). Barriers fell under similar themes and included transportation challenges, poor weather, and insufficient quantity of produce for larger households. Participants perceived the market as improving diet and finances and offered suggestions for improvement: distributing nonproduce foods (eg, meat) or nonfood items (eg, toiletries) and augmenting existing initiatives aimed to help attendees make use of the produce (eg, handing out recipe cards).

Conclusions and implications: The produce market was widely accepted, and targeted areas for improvement were identified. Findings may improve existing and future charitable produce markets among diverse populations.

Keywords: Arabic; Spanish; focus group; food security; nutrition.