Vending Assessment and Program Implementation in Four Iowa Worksites

Abstract

The worksite food environment, including vending options, has been explored as an important contributor to dietary decisions made every day. The current study describes the vending environment, and efforts to change it, in four Iowa worksites using a series of case studies. Data were gathered by local coordinators as part of the Iowa Community Transformation Grant project. Data were collected from three sources. First, the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey-Vending was used to assess healthy vending options in worksite machines before and after the intervention. Second, employee vending behavior was evaluated with a pre-, post-intervention survey. Items assessed attitudes and behaviors regarding vending, plus awareness and reaction to intervention activities. Third, program coordinators documented vending machine intervention strategies used, such as social marketing materials and product labels. The Nutrition Environment Measures Survey-Vending documented that the majority of vending options did not meet criteria for healthfulness. The vending survey found that employees were generally satisfied with the healthier items offered. Some differences were noted over time at the four worksites related to employee behavior and attitudes concerning healthy options. There were also differences in intervention implementation and the extent of changes made by vending companies. Overall, findings demonstrate that a large percentage of employees are constrained in their ability to access healthy foods due to limited worksite vending options. There also remain challenges to making changes in this environment. Findings have implications for public health practitioners to consider when designing healthy vending interventions in worksites.

Investigating business outcomes of healthy food retail strategies: A systematic scoping review

“…The majority of studies were conducted in the United States (n = 56) or Canada (n = 13) . Studies encompassed food service (n = 44), grocery (n = 56), and mixed (n = 7) retail settings including cafeterias (n = 24), full service restaurants (n = 18), corner stores and/or grocery stores (n = 19), supermarkets (n = 16), vending machines (n = 13), quick‐service restaurants (n = 13), and cafés (n = 5) . Approximately half of thes...…”

“…Studies encompassed food service (n = 44), grocery (n = 56), and mixed (n = 7) retail settings including cafeterias (n = 24), full service restaurants (n = 18), corner stores and/or grocery stores (n = 19), supermarkets (n = 16), vending machines (n = 13), quick‐service restaurants (n = 13), and cafés (n = 5) . Approximately half of these retailers were considered to have a mandate that integrated health including universities (n = 15), healthcare settings (n = 18), workplaces (n = 11), and sports and recreation centres (n = 7) …”

Frequency of Vending Machine Usage as a Predictor of Weight Status Among College Students

“…Finally, the scope of this study is limited in that it did not gather information on actual dietary behavior, including what types of items participants purchased from vending machines, which may act as an intervening variable between vending usage and weight status. However, previous findings suggest measuring vending item choice may not make a large difference due to inconclusive results on its effect on the outcome of BMI, [16,20] the large homogeneity of unhealthy items present in vending machines on this and other college campuses, [21][22][23] as well as the homogeneity of college students' unhealthy choices, regardless of healthy item availability. Nonetheless, future research should measure, test and confirm the intermediate impact of vending item choice or dietary behaviors to determine the appropriateness of including this variable in the conceptual model testing FVU as a predictor of BMI.…”

“…[15] In addition, it is unclear whether food availability or health policies differed on these campuses, which have been shown to influence vending machine usage. [16,21,37] Future research with a larger sample, additional data collection, and multiple campuses should be conducted to determine if there is an overall decline in vending usage in this population or if the differences are due to other extraneous factors. [38] Statistical comparisons of the demographic characteristics found no significant differences in FVU or BMI on many of the measured variables.…”

“…[20] Additionally, one study found that even when higher proportions of healthy vending items are available, college students choose the most unhealthy options the majority (59%) of the time. [15] However, the impact of vending item choice is mitigated by the fact that studies have shown the majority (approximately 93%) of all vending items are similarly categorized as unhealthy at the study university and other universities around the U.S. [21][22][23] While evidence of college students' unhealthy vending item choices suggest more frequent snacking from campus vending machines might be related to higher weight statuses among college students, [4,20] more research is needed to test and confirm this hypothesis. Though vending machines might be an ideal place for interventions in this population, [24] there is currently limited research available to inform these interventions.…”