Grant: Project Grant

Healthy eating is important for good health. However, many low-income Canadians cannot afford to buy enough healthy food. The BC Farmers' Market Nutrition Coupon Program gives low-income seniors and young families 16 weeks of coupons worth $15/week to buy healthy foods in farmers' markets and teaches them about healthy eating. It is not clear if the program is meeting its goals of improving the diets, well-being and health of low-income adults because its impacts have not been studied. This research will study the impact of the BC Farmers' Market Nutrition Coupon Program on what people eat, and their social and mental well-being. It will also try to understand how the program makes these changes and how the program can be improved. We will use a strong study design that can show cause and effect. We will study these things by asking 200 adults who are in the program, and 200 adults who are not in the program, to tell us about the foods they eat, their social relationships, stress levels and general mental well-being. All of these questions will be asked before the program starts, right after it ends, and 16 weeks after it has ended so that we can understand how these things changed during and after the program. A smaller group of 40 adults will be interviewed about their experiences in the program to help us understand how any changes happened, and how the program can be improved. The BC Farmers' Market Nutrition Coupon Program is paid for by taxpayers and so it is important to find out if it is actually helping to improve people's diets and well-being. Information from this study will help the BC government and the BC Association of Farmers' Markets to understand if the program is meeting its goals, how it is doing so, and how the program can be improved. This information can also be used by governments in other provinces and countries to decide if they should start their own farmers' market nutrition coupon programs.