Successful Community Nutrition Incentive Program Data Collection during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study

Area of Science:

• Public Health Nutrition
• Program Evaluation
• Health Services Research

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic created significant challenges for evaluating public health nutrition programs.
• The USDA Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (USDA GusNIP) requires grantees to collect participant data, including fruit and vegetable intake and food insecurity.
• Most USDA GusNIP grantees faced barriers to data collection due to the pandemic.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the successful participant-level data collection and evaluation methods used by the Hunger Task Force Mobile Market (HTFMM) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• To identify key factors contributing to HTFMM's ability to collect essential program data despite public health restrictions.

Main Methods:

• A single case study approach was employed, focusing on the HTFMM in Milwaukee, WI.
• Data were collected through teleconference interviews with leadership, evaluators, staff, volunteers, and customers.
• Qualitative thematic analysis was conducted on transcribed interviews by two independent coders.

Main Results:

• Successful data collection involved multiple stakeholders with defined roles, utilizing personalized, proactive telephone surveys.
• Dedicated resources for comprehensive evaluation were crucial for maintaining data collection efforts.
• Established community relationships and trust facilitated program engagement and data collection.
• The developed COVID-19 data collection protocol also addressed challenges inherent in in-person data collection.

Conclusions:

• Alternative data collection methods, like those employed by HTFMM, can be successfully adapted for evaluating public health nutrition programs during crises.
• These findings offer guidance for other programs facing disruptions to in-person data collection.
• The study contributes to best practices for collecting participant-level data in public health nutrition program evaluations.