Leveraging Citizen Science for Healthier Food Environments: A Pilot Study to Evaluate Corner Stores in Camden, New Jersey

Abstract

Over the last 6 years, a coordinated “healthy corner store” network has helped an increasing number of local storeowners stock healthy, affordable foods in Camden, New Jersey, a city with high rates of poverty and unemployment, and where most residents have little or no access to large food retailers. The initiative’s funders and stakeholders wanted to directly engage Camden residents in evaluating this effort to increase healthy food access. In a departure from traditional survey- or focus group-based evaluations, we used an evidence-based community-engaged citizen science research model (called Our Voice) that has been deployed in a variety of neighborhood settings to assess how different features of the built environment both affect community health and wellbeing, and empower participants to create change. Employing the Our Voice model, participants documented neighborhood features in and around Camden corner stores through geo-located photos and audio narratives. Eight adult participants who lived and/or worked in a predefined neighborhood of Camden were recruited by convenience sample and visited two corner stores participating in the healthy corner store initiative (one highly-engaged in the initiative and the other less-engaged), as well as an optional third corner store of their choosing. Facilitators then helped participants use their collected data (in total, 134 images and 96 audio recordings) to identify and prioritize issues as a group, and brainstorm and advocate for potential solutions. Three priority themes were selected by participants from the full theme list (n = 9) based on perceived importance and feasibility: healthy product selection and display, store environment, and store outdoor appearance and cleanliness. Participants devised and presented a set of action steps to community leaders, and stakeholders have begun to incorporate these ideas into plans for the future of the healthy corner store network. Key elements of healthy corner stores were identified as positive, and other priorities, such as improvements to safety, exterior facades, and physical accessibility, may find common ground with other community development initiatives in Camden. Ultimately, this pilot study demonstrated the potential of citizen science to provide a systematic and data-driven process for public health stakeholders to authentically engage community residents in program evaluation.

Stress experiences in neighborhood and social environments (SENSE): a pilot study to integrate the quantified self with citizen science to improve the built environment and health

“…A web portal for viewing DT participant data allows the research team to download summary data for each walk, including the walk route and locations of all photos and audio recordings. The full Our Voice process (not included in this pilot study) involves collection of geo-tagged photos and audio narratives with the DT mobile app, followed by facilitated community meetings to identify shared themes and build community consensus, in partnership with identified stakeholders, around how to address environmental issues negatively impacting resident health and well-being and [ 32 , 33 , 36 – 39 ].…”

Employing Participatory Citizen Science Methods to Promote Age-Friendly Environments Worldwide

“…The project team members next recruit residents as Citizen Scientists and orient them to the project and their role. Using a multi-lingual mobile app, called the Stanford Healthy Neighborhood Discovery Tool TM [45] (described in more detail below), residents capture, through geo-coded photographs and audio-or text-based narratives and route mapping, features of their local environments that help or hinder a particular domain that can impact healthy living, for example, neighborhood walkability, food access, personal safety, feelings of support and respect, transport, or well-being [25,[46][47][48][49][50][51][52]. In a standardized procedure that occurs across projects, the qualitative data collected using the Discovery Tool are automatically uploaded to a secure server where the different data elements (e.g., photos, narratives) are combined and then transmitted back to designated project personnel for distribution to participating residents.…”

“…As noted above, the Our Voice program begins with the Discovery Tool (DT), an easy-to-use mobile app that was developed originally for low-income older adults [45]. It has been used with residents ages 9 to over 90 years old to document features of their local neighborhoods or other environments that impact specific aspects of their health or well-being (e.g., physical activity, food access, personal safety, feelings of inclusiveness) [23,24,45,51]. The DT currently has been translated into ten languages.…”

The Potential Role of School Citizen Science Programs in Infectious Disease Surveillance: A Critical Review

“…Linking the students and the public to the scientific sphere through active community engagement creates a symbiotic relationship to solve community health issues and creates public empowerment [ 54 , 80 ]. CS studies that focused on population health, such as public space quality or food access, revealed new ways for refining urban planning by active volunteer involvement [ 81 , 82 ]. Incorporating more of these types of CS projects at schools can provide more insight to public health officials and allow students to play a bigger part in their own communities through action-mediated methods.…”