Using the Nutrition Environment
Measures Survey to Inform & Evaluate
a Restaurant and Food Store
Community Intervention
Josie Golembiewski, MPH Candidate
Ana P. Martínez-Donate, PhD
Department of Population Health Sciences
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Bev Hall, BS CD
Waupaca County NuAct Coalition
Healthy Food for All Summit
Neenah, WI - 3/27/14
Background
Community nutrition
environment:
Consumer nutrition
environment:
• The number, type, location, and
accessibility of food outlets in a
community
• What consumers encounter when
they buy food, such as availability,
cost, and quality of healthful food
choices
ANEWC Project
Assessing and Improving the Nutrition Environment in
Wisconsin Communities
Funded by UW School of Medicine and Public Health
Wisconsin Partnership Program 2010 - 2013
Assessing the Nutrition Environment in
Wisconsin Communities (ANEWC)
ANEWC
Dissemination &
Policy Implications
Surveillance
Intervention
Assessing the Nutrition Environment in
Wisconsin Communities (ANEWC)
ANEWC
Dissemination &
Policy Implications
Surveillance
Intervention
Aim: To develop and test a pilot intervention
to improve the nutrition environment in
restaurants and grocery stores
Our intervention:
Waupaca Eating Smart (WES)
•
•
•
•
Two nutrition and physical activity coalitions
10 months: Oct 2011- July 2012
7 restaurants & 2 stores in each community
Broad strategies:
Waupaca
– Offer, label, and promote healthier foods
Stevens Point
Activities in Restaurants
• Offer more healthy items
– WES-approved meal: <700 calories
& 1 cup fruit or vegetables
• Label & promote healthy items
– Materials, signs, wait staff
Activities in Stores
• Offer more healthy items
– Recipes for bundled family meals: <700
calories & 1 cup fruit or vegetables
• Label & promote healthy items
– Promote fruits, vegetables, & family meals
– Displays & samples
– Signs & flyers
WES Promotion in the Community
•
Where’s Jim Eating?
articles in Waupaca
newspaper
•
Local media pieces
•
Facebook
•
Blog
Our Process
Formative
assessment
Build
partnerships
with
restaurants
& grocery
stores
Implement
strategies:
offer, label,
& promote
healthy
items
Improve the
nutrition
environment
Improve
attitudes and
behaviors in
customers &
owner/
managers
Methods
• Assessment tool:
– Nutrition Environment Measures Survey (NEMS)
• Goal:
– Measure changes in the food environment
attributable to the intervention
• Evaluation design:
– Before and after the intervention
– Intervention community
– Comparison community
Assessment Tool: Nutrition
Environment Measurement Survey
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•
•
•
Restaurants
Stores
Convenience Stores
Vending machines
• Online training
– Free, 20 hours
• Other tools
– Perceived nutrition
environment
– Grocery store
promotions (GroPromo)
www.med.upenn.edu/nems/
Karen Glanz et al. at the University of Pennsylvania and Emory University
NEMS for Restaurants
•
•
•
•
Availability
Cues, signs, & information
Price
Total score: -27 to 63 points
NEMS for Stores
•
•
•
•
Availability
Quality
Price
Total score: -9 to 54 points
10 food categories that contribute the
most fat and calories to the American
diet AND those that are most
recommended for healthful eating
• Fruits, vegetables, milk, ground
beef, hot dogs, frozen dinners,
beverages (soda, 100% juice), baked
goods, bread, chips
Discussion
• NEMS-restaurant
– Availability
– Cues, signs, info
– Price
• NEMS-store
– Availability
– Quality
– Price
• Adapt NEMS?
• Use other tools?
Offer, label, and
promote healthy
items
Future directions
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•
•
•
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Analyze statewide data
Disseminate toolkits
Sustain WES
Partner with Thedacare
Expand WES through a larger study
Acknowledgments
Community Partners:
• Bev Hall
• Anne Menzies
• Marilyn Herman
• Gary Garske
• Waupaca NuAct
• Portage County CAN
• Thedacare
• Wisconsin Partnership for Physical
Activity and Nutrition (WIPAN)
• Wisconsin Department of Health
Services Nutrition and Physical
Activity Coalition
UW-Madison Team:
•
Ana Martinez-Donate
•
Josie Golembiewski
•
Amy Meinen
•
Kristen Malecki
•
Anne Escaron
•
Norma-Jean Simon
•
Anne Roubal
•
Dan Fisher
•
Sahra Kahin
•
Natalie Rhoads
•
Jen Valdivia
•
Natalie Guerrero
•
Susan Nitzke
•
Javier Nieto
•
And many others
Questions? Please contact Dr. Ana Martinez-Donate:
martinezdona@wisc.edu
Questions