Validity of a Market Basket Assessment Tool for Use in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education Healthy Retail Initiatives

Valisa E Hedrick; Alisha R Farris; Bailey Houghtaling; Georgianna Mann; Sarah A Misyak

doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2022.02.018

Validity of a Market Basket Assessment Tool for Use in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education Healthy Retail Initiatives

J Nutr Educ Behav. 2022 Aug;54(8):776-783. doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2022.02.018. Epub 2022 May 25.

Authors

Valisa E Hedrick¹, Alisha R Farris², Bailey Houghtaling³, Georgianna Mann⁴, Sarah A Misyak⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA. Electronic address: vhedrick@vt.edu.
² Department of Nutrition and Health Care Management, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.
³ School of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Louisiana State University AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA.
⁴ Department of Nutrition and Hospitality Management, University of Mississippi, University, MS.
⁵ Virginia Cooperative Extension Family Nutrition Program, Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA.

PMID: 35623937
DOI: 10.1016/j.jneb.2022.02.018

Abstract

Objective: To assess the validity of the Market Basket Analysis Tool (MBAT) for food environment quality within various retail environments compared to the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey in Stores (NEMS-S).

Methods: In-store assessments using the MBAT and the NEMS-S on the same day in a given store were conducted in grocery stores, corner stores, pharmacies, and dollar stores in a metropolis, and urban and rural counties across 4 states: Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Virginia. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and ANOVAs were used to assess store location, store type differences, and MBAT and NEMS-S scores.

Results: Market Basket Analysis Tool and NEMS-S data were collected from 114 stores. Market Basket Analysis Tool and NEMS-S total and all individual component scores were significantly correlated (r = 0.84, P ≤ 0.0001; r range, 0.51-0.88; P ≤ 0.0001).

Conclusions and implications: The MBAT offers a methodology to measure the food retail environment focusing on the availability of healthful food items with a reduced training time and streamlined data collection compared with the NEMS-S. Future work can assess the completion time of the MBAT compared with the NEMS-S and the ability of the MBAT to detect changes in food environment quality post healthy food retail interventions.

Keywords: SNAP-Ed; food retail environment; nutrition assessment; validity testing.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Commerce
Food
Food Assistance*
Food Supply
Humans
Nutrition Surveys
Rural Population