African Americans' perceptions of nutrition interventions: a scoping review

Nutrition education and policy, systems and environmental (PSE) change interventions may be able to address food insecurity and obesity, conditions which are disproportionately experienced by African Americans. Work that seeks to address these disparities and advance social justice should uplift and learn from participant voices, particularly from marginalised groups. This scoping review aimed to summarise the available literature describing African Americans' perceptions of and experiences participating in nutrition interventions. We conducted an electronic literature search with the assistance of a research librarian which encompassed six databases (MEDLINE, PyscINFO, Agricola, ERIC, SocINDEX and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses) and identified thirty-five sources meeting our inclusion criteria. The majority of studies assessing African Americans' satisfaction with interventions examined educational interventions alone, and about half of the included studies assessed satisfaction through quantitative methods alone. The only studies which found participants to be dissatisfied with interventions used qualitative methods and examined interventions providing education alone. Future work should evaluate African Americans' experience with nutrition-focused PSE changes, interventions which may be better able to address racial disparities in obesity and food insecurity. Nutrition educators working with African Americans should also consider evaluating future interventions using qualitative inquiry, to obtain an in-depth understanding of participant experiences with interventions.