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research-article2021
HPPXXX10.1177/15248399211028558HEALTH PROMOTION PRACTICENewman and Lee / GEORGIA PRODUCE PRESCRIPTION PROGRAMS

Learning From Each Other

Strategies and Challenges: Qualitative Lessons


Learned From Georgia Produce Prescription
Programs
Taylor Newman, PhD, RDN1
Jung Sun Lee, PhD, RDN1

Produce prescription programs (PPPs) have grown in Keywords: produce prescription; food security; fruit
numbers in the past decade, empowering health care and vegetable incentive; nutrition;
providers to promote health by issuing subsidies for pro- health promotion; community interven-
duce to vulnerable patients. However, little research has tion; process evaluation; qualitative
been conducted on the facilitators that make it easier for research; chronic disease
PPPs to succeed or the barriers that programs face,
which could provide guidance on how to improve future
PPP design and implementation. The study sought to

M
identify the facilitators and barriers affecting positive any factors can influence food access, includ-
outcomes in Georgia PPPs called Fruit and Vegetable ing racial and ethnic inequities, access to
Prescription (FVRx) Programs. A process evaluation transportation, and geographic proximity to
with a qualitative comparative case study approach was food retailers (Walker et  al., 2010). Even when abun-
conducted. Fifteen FVRx providers, ranging from nutri- dant food is in proximity, food prices may be unafford-
tion educators to farmers market managers, were inter- able for low socioeconomic households (Breyer &
viewed in a focus group interview or on the phone Voss-Andreae, 2013). Of particular concern is limited
between 2016 and 2017. Two nutrition education classes access to fruits and vegetables (F&V; Bartlett et  al.,
and an FVRx best practices meeting were observed, and 2014), which may protect against the diet-related dis-
program documents were collected. Interview tran- eases (Aune et  al., 2017; Boeing et  al., 2012) that dis-
scripts, field notes from observations, and documents proportionately affect low socioeconomic status groups
were then thematically analyzed. Four overall themes (Leng et  al., 2015; Shaw et  al., 2016). Though most
were determined regarding facilitators and barriers Americans consume less than the recommended two
experienced by FVRx programs: (1) creating accessible cups of fruits and 2.5 cups of vegetables (U.S.
programming may encourage FVRx participation, (2) Department of Health & Human Services and U.S.
provider dedication to the program is important, (3) par- Department of Agriculture, 2015), lower income house-
ticipants’ challenging life circumstances can make par- holds consume even less than higher income house-
ticipation difficult, and (4) the sustainability of the holds (1.01 cups of fruits and 1.26 cups of vegetables,
program is a concern. The findings of this study suggest
helpful strategies and challenges for providers to con- 1
sider when developing and implementing PPPs in University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
Georgia and beyond. Research on the long-term program
impact is needed, and policy options for sustainable, Authors’ Note: The authors would like to acknowledge the study
scaling up of PPPs should be explored. participants who contributed their time and energy to the study.
TN and JSL were affiliated with one of the FVRx programs under
study. TN and JSL helped plan, implement, and evaluate the pro-
Health Promotion Practice gram’s 2017 programming as part of their regular job responsi-
July 2022 Vol. 23, No. (4) 699­–707 bilities. Address correspondence to Taylor Newman, Department
DOI: 10.1177/15248399211028558
https://doi.org/ of Foods and Nutrition, University of Georgia, 280 Dawson Hall,
Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions 305 Sanford Drive, Athens, GA 30602, USA; e-mail: taylor.nicole.
© 2021 Society for Public Health Education newman@gmail.com.

699
compared with 1.08 cups of fruits and 1.53 cups of sought to identify facilitators and barriers related to key
vegetables, respectively; U.S. Department of Agriculture, process evaluation elements: recruitment, dose deliv-
2014). Furthermore, a low socioeconomic status is ered, fidelity, reach, dose received, and context. Sharing
associated with food insecurity (Coleman-Jensen et al., these strategies and existing barriers can strengthen PPP
2019; Seligman et al., 2009), which can independently development and implementation to better promote
increase the risk for diet-related disease (Seligman health in Georgia and beyond.
et al., 2009). A major reported barrier to produce con-
sumption by low-income populations is cost (Bartlett
et al., 2014).
>>
Method
Nutrition incentive programs subsidize the price of Design
F&V and have been shown to significantly increase pro- A process evaluation with a qualitative comparative
duce consumption (Bartlett et al., 2014; Herman et al., case study approach was conducted. A process evalu-
2008) and improve diet quality (Berkowitz et al., 2019), ation can illuminate why a program was or was not
reduce food insecurity (Berkowitz et al., 2019; Ridberg successful (Saunders et  al., 2005), which can inform
et al., 2019), and modestly improve conditions of diet- the future direction of FVRx programs. A qualitative
related disease (Berkowitz et al., 2019; Bryce et al., 2017) comparative case study approach (Goodrick, 2014) was
in underserved populations. One type of nutrition incen- used to examine each FVRx program “case” within their
tive is a produce prescription program (PPP), where contexts with the goal of discovering similarities, dif-
health care providers “prescribe” F&V to promote health ferences, and patterns across facilitators and barriers.
among patients with a low income who are experienc- This approach was chosen because it extends beyond
ing food insecurity and/or a diet-related disease. PPPs multiple case study design (Yin, 2014) to explain why
have grown in popularity over the years, but there are an intervention succeeds (Goodrick, 2014).
still many unknowns about the programs due to a lack The study was informed by a constructivist episte-
of consolidated information, including how many exist mology (Crotty, 1998), which assumes that knowledge
across the country. In Georgia, PPPs are called Fruit and emerges through the individuals’ interaction with the
Vegetable Prescription (FVRx) programs (now termed, environment (Crotty, 1998). The epistemology informed
Georgia Food for Health). During this 4- to 6-month-long an interpretivist theoretical perspective (O’Donoghue,
intervention, health care providers prescribe local pro- 2007), which aligns with constructivism by assuming
duce worth $1 per household member per day. Nutrition that knowledge is the product of constant interaction
education and cooking classes often accompany the pre- with the world rather than reality being an objec-
scription. Various health measures, such as weight, body tive truth outside the human mind (Sandberg, 2005).
mass index, and blood pressure, are measured to assess Constructivism and interpretivism informed the meth-
the intervention impact. In 2016–2017, there were six ods of data analysis used to describe the meanings of the
FVRx programs across Georgia. providers’ PPP experiences as constituted through their
Sharing helpful strategies and identifying barriers lived experience in the world (Gephart & Rynes, 2004).
to overcome can provide guidance on how to improve
PPP’s ability to promote food security and health among
underserved populations. Little research has been con- Sample and Recruitment
ducted on the facilitators that make it easier for FVRx Purposive, criterion sampling was used to recruit
programs to produce positive outcomes, such as retain- individuals who possessed intimate knowledge of and
ing participants or improving health measures, or the experience with FVRx programs. Criteria sought pro-
barriers FVRx programs face. Available studies have viders for Georgia FVRx programs that had been in
been largely quantitative with limited focus on the per- operation for at least 2 years. Programs were identified
spective of the providers—the farm and farmers market through their participation in a statewide FVRx network.
managers, the nutrition educators, the health care pro- Providers from three programs in Georgia met the cri-
fessionals, and the administrators who are on the ground teria. After difficulty recruiting one of the programs, a
implementing FVRx programs. pilot program was included in its place. Programs were
de-identified and termed Program A, Program B, and
Purpose
Program C (Table 1).
The purpose of the study was to examine the facili- Program administrators recruited interested provid-
tators and barriers affecting positive outcomes of FVRx ers and worked with the researcher to schedule inter-
programs in Georgia between 2016 and 2017 from the views and observations between November 2016 and
perspective of program providers. Specifically, the study July 2017.

700  HEALTH PROMOTION PRACTICE / July 2022


Table 1
Descriptions of the Three Participating Georgia FVRx Programs

Program characteristic Program A Program B Program C

Setting Urban Urban Urban


Longevity of program 1 year 3 years 2 years
Length of program 6 months 6 months 6 months
Health care component Nonprofit health care clinic Nonprofit health care clinic Nonprofit health care clinic
Prescription •  $1/household member/ •  $1/household member/ •  $1/household member/
day day day
•  Redeemable at a local •  Redeemable at a local •  Redeemable at a farmers
farmers market farmers market market onsite at the clinic
Nutrition education Six monthly, bilingual No nutrition education Six weeks of group cooking
component nutrition education component was offered at classes led by a dietitian,
classes with cooking the time of the study followed by monthly check-
demonstrations led by a ins paired with a health-
peer educator related educational session

Data Collection Additional context for the reported facilitators and


barriers was provided by each program’s “plan of action,”
The study’s credibility was increased by triangula-
documents that outlined how sites planned to implement
tion (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015): the use of multiple data
their program. The dual role of the researcher as an FVRx
sources and methods to provide a more comprehensive
program administrator for one of the sites under study
understanding than a single source or method could.
was critically analyzed in a statement of subjectivity to
Interviews, observations, and program documents were
acknowledge any potential bias on the research process
collected from different programs to cross-check the
(Preissle, 2008). Research decisions were tracked in an
consistency of the findings.
audit trail to increase study dependability (Merriam &
Three semistructured focus group interviews and one
Tisdell, 2015). Informed consent was obtained by all
individual phone interview were conducted to learn
participants. This study was deemed exempt by the
what providers perceived to be facilitators and barriers
University of Georgia institutional review board.
for their programs. Interviews included farmers market
managers, nutrition educators, program administrators,
Data Analysis
community coordinators (a liaison between the par-
ticipants and the providers), researchers, students, and Interview transcriptions, field notes from observa-
a dietitian, a physician, and a nurse practitioner. The tions, and plans of action were de-identified and coded
interview guide was based on the six process evaluation using first and second cycle coding methods described
elements from Saunders et al. (2005)—recruitment, dose by Saldaña (2015) to generate themes. During first cycle
delivered, fidelity, reach, dose received, and context—to coding, evaluation codes of “facilitator” or “barrier” were
ensure that all critical areas of the FVRx program were paired with descriptive codes (summarizing a primary
examined (Figure 1). topic) or process codes (gerunds denoting action). For
Observations of the nutrition education classes for example, a section of data describing how a participant
Programs A and C provided program context; Program didn’t have a car to attend class was coded, “Barrier-
B did not have a class to observe. A field guide proto- lacking car.” Here, the evaluation code of “Barrier” was
col based on Spradley’s (1980) ethnographic domains paired with the process code, “lacking car.”
for participant observations directed the observations. During the second cycle of coding, first cycle codes
The guide focused on broad aspects of the class, like were combined or discarded to reduce redundancy. The
the setting, as well as more specific aspects, like “Barrier-lacking car” code, for instance, was grouped
the cooking demo recipes. A best practices meeting into the larger code of “Barrier-transportation issues.”
with multiple FVRx programs in attendance was also Codes with similar content were then grouped into more
observed. broad subthemes (Table 2).

Newman and Lee / GEORGIA PRODUCE PRESCRIPTION PROGRAMS  701


Process Evaluation Interview Questions
Components

Recruitment • What planned and actual recruitment procedures were used to attract
Methods used to contact and attract participants to your program?
participants

Dose delivered
Extent to which intervention components • What components did you include in your program last year?
were delivered

Fidelity • How closely did you stick to your plan of action once the program
Quality of program delivery started?

• What proportion of the participants attended all of the components of


Reach your program?
Extent to which the participants attend • How did you encourage continued involvement throughout the
and/or participate in the intervention program?

Dose received • For those that attended the components, to what extent were
Extent to which participants actively participants engaged in the program activities?
engage with intervention • How did participants like or dislike parts of the program?

Context • What factors of your organization or community affected your


Environmental features that may influence program last year?
intervention implementation or outcomes

FIGURE 1  Key Process Evaluation Components and Interview Questions for 15 Georgia FVRx Providers Regarding FVRx Program
Facilitators and Barriers

The data sorted under the subthemes were com- Facilitators


pared and contrasted to identify patterns and unifying Program Accessibility Encourages Participation.  It was
“red threads” of meaning weaved throughout the data, important to make participating in FVRx as accessible
or themes (Graneheim et  al., 2017, p. 32). Alternative as possible for participants, who were facing many
explanations of the themes were explored and evaluated challenges outside the program, by making participa-
against the findings to increase credibility (Merriam & tion easy, convenient, and welcoming.
Tisdell, 2015). Programs made an effort to ease access to, and use
of, the produce. One program opened its on-site market
>>
Results before and after the nutrition education classes to make
shopping more convenient. Programs used seasonal pro-
Fifteen FVRx providers from three FVRx programs duce in their cooking demonstrations, which showed
were interviewed in a focus group (n = 14) or individ- participants how to cook the produce that was available
ually (n = 1). Providers’ roles fell into four main cat- to purchase at the market. Classes also provided cooking
egories: health care (33.3%), farmers market (13.3%), tools, such as cutting mats and skillets.
nutrition education (20%), and program administration Relationships with program providers and fellow par-
(33.3%). ticipants helped create a welcoming environment in the
Themes are expanded and supported by quotes that program. For example, nutrition educators who were
concisely represent the themes in the following sec- “engaging,” “relatable,” and “down to earth” helped cre-
tions. ate a comfortable atmosphere:

702  HEALTH PROMOTION PRACTICE / July 2022


Table 2
Theme Development Related to Facilitators and Barriers Affecting Positive Outcomes in
Three Georgia FVRx Programs

Evaluation codes Major themes Subthemes Codes

Facilitators Program Ease and convenience of •  Providing transportation


accessibility programming •  Providing child care
encourages •  Recruiting from neighborhoods
participation. •  Providing participant reminders
•  Ensuring participant understanding
•  Easing use of produce
•  Engagement
•  Flexibility
Welcoming environment •  Encouraging community leadership
•  Fostering a sense of community
•  Encouraging nutrition education classes
•  Encouraging environment
•  Utilizing community partnerships
Provider dedication Provider dedication •  Provider team health beliefs
to the program is •  Provider team strength
important. •  Provider team thoughtfulness
•  Provider team resourcefulness
Barriers Participants’ Ongoing and unforeseen •  Participant emergencies
challenging life participant challenges •  Difficulty contacting participants
circumstances can •  Perceived time commitment
make participation •  Transportation issues
difficult. •  Child care issues
•  Challenges with paperwork
Sustainability of the Temporary programming •  Short-term intervention
program is a •  Post-program food security measures
concern. Scarce programming •  Limited funds
resources •  Limited staff
Challenges working with •  Limited produce options
local food systems •  Growing season challenges

I think they really enjoyed our PA’s [nutrition educa- Provider Dedication to the Program Is Impor-
tors]. I think [they] are very engaging. I felt like I saw tant.  Many providers volunteered their time for
a real natural rapport and just easy back and forth. FVRx on top of their regular job responsibilities. Pro-
(Dietitian) viders’ dedication to the concept of “food as medi-
cine” kept them motivated, particularly with regard
to using a produce-centric diet to prevent and treat
Friendships formed among participants over the diet-related diseases. One provider explained that
course of the program, with one provider crediting the FVRx was so appealing to her:
nutrition education classes:

We did . . . create a community with those who took It closes the gap between flowing information to
the classes together. They looked forward to seeing people and expecting them to figure out how to
each other and became friends. We just created this enact that themselves, and actually helping people
comradery that communities need to have. (Nutrition have access to the food they need to enact the posi-
educator) tive behavior change. (Researcher)

Newman and Lee / GEORGIA PRODUCE PRESCRIPTION PROGRAMS  703


Dedication to the programs’ success encouraged pro- Providers had to navigate these personal hardships
viders to get resourceful and creative in the face of lim- when trying to help participants succeed in the program.
ited resources, like funding and staff. One strategy was to
utilize relationships with other community partners in Sustainability of the Program Is a Concern.  FVRx’s sus-
order to pool resources. For example, programs handed tainability, or the ability to maintain program delivery
out fliers at partners’ facilities to recruit and utilized and impact at a certain level, may be affected by the
students and dietetic interns to help with programming. programs’ short duration, finite resources, and chal-
Providers were also dedicated to supporting the well- lenges of working with local food systems.
being of the participants. Providers called to check in on Programming was only 4 to 6 months long. When
participants, and some even took participants home in the program ended, providers attempted to extend par-
their personal vehicles. The thoughtfulness of one com- ticipants’ access to produce. One program arranged a
munity coordinator was applauded by another provider: community-supported agriculture box for participants
postprogram, while another program created a stand-
alone produce stand to provide F&V after the market
You went to the hospital to visit clients who were closed.
in the hospital and you sat with them as they The program’s impact on health, specifically weight,
received treatment . . . . You devised creative ways was questioned though optimistically:
for people to get food when they weren’t able to due
to incarceration or health emergencies or . . . not Although the program length is of course not really
being able to take care of children. You advocated enough time to look for sort of statistically signifi-
for them. (Farmers market manager) cant change in weight we do see people losing some
weight and then they hopefully will carry that with
Barriers them. (Physician)
Participants’ Challenging Life Circumstances Can
Make Participation Difficult. Ongoing and unfore- Strained resources also restricted program capac-
seen challenges in participants’ lives permeated into ity and growth. Providers mentioned lacking funding
their participation in FVRx. Not having reliable trans- for certain components that they wanted to include.
portation served as a major barrier, with one program Another program wanted to expand, but they needed
citing it as their “biggest barrier.” Some participants more staff. Community coordinators underscored the
did not own a vehicle and relied on public transpor- need for more staff when they explained not having the
tation. Participants who did own a vehicle struggled capacity to engage with all of their participants:
with their car breaking down or gas being too expen-
sive. All three programs provided some form of free I want to keep it personal but just realistically, it’s
transportation, including bus passes, rideshare ser- hard . . . to call 80 people every week. (Community
vices, and a local church’s van. However, some par- coordinator)
ticipants, especially solo riders, were hesitant to use
a rideshare because they were unfamiliar with or did
While supporting local food systems was a keystone
not trust rideshares.
of the FVRx program, it also came with limitations. The
Providers discussed several situations where it was
farmers markets operated seasonally, condensing pro-
difficult to contact participants. Participants would run
duce access to certain times of the year. Two programs
out of minutes, and their phones would be turned off.
offered limited amounts of produce due to a small num-
They also experienced unexpected, serious life events
ber of vendors selling, and unpredictable weather and
over the course of the program, including eviction,
pests affected what made it to market. Low vendor num-
homelessness, hospitalization, deportation, and incar-
bers also reduced produce variety.
ceration. FVRx participation was hindered as a result:

We had a system for people to get rides through the


>>
Discussion
church and the church van but if you can’t call them This process evaluation gathered the perspectives
because their phone, they’re out of minutes . . . then from 15 FVRx providers in Georgia regarding what
you can’t figure out where they’re at. People get facilitators and barriers were affecting the successes
evicted and you don’t know where they’re at. of their PPPs alongside program documents and obser-
(Physician) vations. The results of the study suggest that provider

704  HEALTH PROMOTION PRACTICE / July 2022


dedication and program accessibility can be major facili- Smith, et  al., 2019). Few studies follow up with par-
tators for positive outcomes in Georgia FVRx programs, ticipants more than 3 months after the program ends
while participants’ challenging life circumstances and (Bryce et  al., 2017; Burrington et  al., 2020; Ridberg
issues around program sustainability may be barriers. et al., 2019; Schlosser, Smith, et al., 2019), leaving the
Future and existing programs looking to improve their long-term impact unknown. Still, the positive health
programming and anticipate pitfalls can learn from outcomes seen during FVRx may reflect the direction
these helpful strategies and challenges experienced by of long-term outcomes.
Georgia FVRx programs. Programs’ limited funding to hire staff and cover
The study suggests various strategies employed by programming needs emphasizes the need for increased
program providers to encourage participation. The support. The 2018 Farm Bill set aside up to $25 million
intentional preparation of seasonal recipes to ease pro- dollars over 5 years to directly fund PPPs (Agriculture
duce use is supported by the findings of a PPP in New Improvement Act of 2018, 2018); however, it’s too soon
York where participants explained how the nutrition to say if this amount of funding is enough to adequately
classes informed what produce they purchased and support programs.
prepared (Burrington et al., 2020). The FVRx nutrition
education classes were also found to cultivate a sense
Limitations
of community among participants, joining findings indi-
cating how group education is important for creating a These findings should be interpreted in considera-
sense of social belonging (Schlosser, Joshi, et al., 2019). tion of the study limitations. A representative from each
Programming was not without challenges, however. program component was not present for each site dur-
The transportation issues reported by providers are ing the interviews, leaving room for unheard provider
consistent with research showing how limited access perspectives. The findings are also limited by a small
to transportation is a barrier to purchasing F&V for low- sample size of PPPs. However, recruitment was limited
income and food-insecure populations (Schlosser, Joshi, by the small number of PPPs in operation in Georgia at
et al., 2019). Beyond transportation, challenges related the time of the study.
to economic constraints and health concerns made par-
ticipating in FVRx difficult. Providers were flexible in Implications for Practice and Policy
program delivery to account for personal hardships,
often putting participant well-being above adherence to PPPs from across the country can learn from the facil-
program activities. itators and barriers that affected program outcomes in
The study also suggests potential challenges in FVRx Georgia by transferring applicable findings to their own
program design related to working with local food sys- programming. Similarly, the findings of the study have
tems, including seasonal farmers market operations and the potential to inform PPPs based in various settings
limited quantity and variety of produce. Despite these beyond nonprofit health care clinics, including hospi-
challenges, participating in farmers market incentive tals and state departments of health. More effective and
programs has been found to be a positive experience efficient PPP programming can better serve populations
for both participants (Herman et al., 2008; Saxe-Custack with a low socioeconomic status to address disparities in
et al., 2018; Schlosser, Joshi, et al., 2019) and farmers, who produce consumption, food security, and health.
have reported higher sales and an increase in new cus- FVRx program providers can design future PPPs with
tomers (Payne et al., 2013). Participants have described program accessibility in mind to improve participation.
positive interactions with farmers (Saxe-Custack et al., Providers should consider including a nutrition educa-
2018; Schlosser, Joshi, et al., 2019), high-quality produce tion component to provide ideas about how to use market
(Saxe-Custack et al., 2018), and excitement about being produce and to foster a sense of community. As nutrition
at the market (Schlosser, Joshi, et al., 2019). experts, dietitians can play an important role in creating
The short program length brings into question the seasonal curriculum and recipes to guide participants’
sustainability of FVRx’s delivery and impact on partici- use of market produce. Dietitians can also provide nutri-
pants. After FVRx ended, participants lost access to pro- tion counseling tailored to participants with diet-related
gram benefits like financial incentives, transportation, diseases to improve health outcomes. Research strongly
and community support. Findings from other PPPs are suggests that nutrition counseling delivered by a dieti-
mixed, with some participants continuing to shop at the tian significantly improves diet-related clinical markers
market without the prescription (Burrington et al., 2020) (Riegel et al., 2018; Sikand et al., 2018).
and other participants struggling to maintain produce Due to the impact of challenging life circumstances
consumption due to economic constraints (Schlosser, on participants’s program experiences, future efforts to

Newman and Lee / GEORGIA PRODUCE PRESCRIPTION PROGRAMS  705


support FVRx participants should be approached from (2017). Fruit and vegetable intake and the risk of cardiovascular
a whole-person perspective. Programs should accom- disease, total cancer and all-cause mortality: A systematic review
and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies.
modate both known and unforeseen challenges and
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>>
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