Interest in Receiving Nutrition Information Through Social Media Among Food-Security Program Participants in Washington, DC
Country:
United States
State / Locale:
Washington, D.C.
Population:
Adults participating in food-security programs (73.2% women, 49.3% were parents)
Community Engagement (IAP2 Spectrum):
Consult
Equity:
People Process
Study Description:
Researchers partnered with Martha’s Table, a nonprofit organization that provides nutrition education and assistance to individuals and families in the greater Washington, DC area; to see how interested adults in food security programs are in getting nutrition information through social media. The researchers gave a form to the attendees, asking for their permission to participate. If people agreed, they were asked to fill out a survey about community social media and nutrition. The survey had 22 questions, and the participants’ identities were kept anonymous, meaning their names were not linked to their responses. A total of 424 market attendees were invited to participate; 381 agreed and completed the survey (89.9% response rate). Around 49.0% of the participants said they were interested in getting nutrition information through social media platforms. Most of the survey respondents (155 people) preferred receiving healthy recipes, while others (111 people) wanted information about farmers market schedules. Before this study, other researchers suggested that age played the most significant role in determining whether people used social media for nutrition information. However, this study discovered that how much a person believed in their own skills and knowledge seemed to have a bigger impact on whether they used social media for nutrition information compared to their age.
Bertrand A, Hawkins M, Cotter EW, Banzon D, Snelling A. Interest in Receiving Nutrition Information Through Social Media Among Food-Security Program Participants in Washington, DC. Prev Chronic Dis 2021;18:200596.