WIC Recipients in the Retail Environment: A Qualitative Study Assessing Customer Experience and Satisfaction

Chauvenet, Christina; Marco, Molly De; Barnes, Carolyn; Ammerman, Alice S.

doi:10.1016/j.jand.2018.09.003

Cited by 47 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 16 publications

(16 reference statements)

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“…For example, it is challenging for participants to remember the specific eligible brand names or product types in each food category and identify them correctly in stores (eg, Great Value 100% apple juice is authorized in West Virginia, but Minute Maid 100% natural flavor fruit punch is not). Incorrect identification of eligible food may result in denial of the redemption in the checkout process, which may create embarrassment or frustration among WIC participants [ 12 ]. Other barriers include difficulty in remembering the benefit expiration date or clinic appointment times [ 13 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The implementation of the EBT system has been completed in most states; the deadline for all states to make the transition is October 1, 2020. Transition to EBT has been associated with a higher redemption of food benefits, reduced stigma at checkout, and improved overall retail experience [ 12 , 18 ]. More importantly, EBT allows integrating the electronic transaction system and other WIC administrative systems, which can provide an eWIC platform that makes it possible for redemption data mining and future technology innovations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Association Between Usage of an App to Redeem Prescribed Food Benefits and Redemption Behaviors Among the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children Participants: Cross-Sectional Study

Zhang¹,

Zhang²,

Park³

et al. 2020

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

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Background The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is one of the most important food assistance programs in the United States, serving 6.4 million low-income, eligible women, infants, and children under 5 years of age in 2019. In the program, participants are prescribed a list of food benefits, which can be redeemed in WIC-authorized stores. However, there are multiple behavioral barriers in the program and the stores that prevent participants from redeeming the benefits fully. Objective This study aims to examine the relationship between the use of a widely used mobile phone app, WICShopper, and the redemption of the prescribed food packages. Methods WIC administrative data were obtained from West Virginia for the period January 2019 to January 2020 and included 30,440 WIC households that had received food benefits in that period. The redemption rates of 18 WIC food benefits were compared between app users and nonapp users, that is, those who never used the app in the study period. The use behaviors were defined for the app users, including the number of active use benefit cycles, active benefit cycle rates, number of active use days in the cycle, and proportion rates of daytime use. Panel linear regressions were applied to examine how the redemption rates were related to these behaviors over time. Results App users consistently had higher average redemption rates than nonapp users; the difference ranged from 3.6% (4.8% relative) for infant formula to 14.3% (40.7% relative) for fish. After controlling for sociodemographics, the coefficients of app use were significantly positive for all benefit categories except for WIC-eligible nutritionals. More active cycles and active days in the cycle were significantly related to redemption rates for all categories, except for frozen juice (coefficient=−0.002, P=.09). Daytime app access was positively associated with redemption rates for most food benefits except only a few, such as infant formula (coefficient=−0.03, P<.001). Conclusions Use of the WIC app was significantly related to higher redemption rates across food benefits, although the association varied across benefit categories. More active days were positively related to benefit redemptions across food categories, and the app’s daytime use was positively associated with the redemption of most benefit categories. These findings suggest that the WIC app can be an important tool for the promotion of benefit redemption among WIC participants.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association Between Usage of an App to Redeem Prescribed Food Benefits and Redemption Behaviors Among the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children Participants: Cross-Sectional Study

Zhang¹,

Zhang²,

Park³

et al. 2020

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Study participants also reported acceptance of restrictions, such as a requirement to purchase the least expensive brand. Dissatisfaction with the retail experience may lead to the underutilization of WIC benefits or program exit [7]. There is an identified need to educate WIC recipients.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although WIC participation is extremely high in the first year of life, it drops significantly in early childhood [6]. From 2009 to 2015, WIC participation decreased from 62.9% of eligible recipients participating to 52.7% of eligible recipients participating [7]. In fact, there remains a sizable number of individuals who are eligible for the program but do not apply [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empowering Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Recipients

Wells¹

2019

IJVETR

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Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a federal program available to expectant and post-partum women of low economic status. The WIC program provides education, nutritional supplements, and provides health and social referrals to recipients. The overall purpose of this study was to create a program that would inform, educate, and empower recipients so they could utilize the WIC EBT card to its full potential by obtaining all items covered and available to them. A descriptive, pre-experimental, one group pretest-posttest design was utilized. Additionally, the researcher administered survey questions to determine what challenges recipients experience, comfort level using the voucher, and other information pertinent to successful use of the WIC EBT card. Consequently, two 45 minutes educational sessions were provided to recipients regarding the approved foods with an emphasis regarding brands and sizes. Following the in-service classes, significant changes were noted in staff knowledge (n=8) regarding WIC approved items (95% confidence interval and a significant value of.029). This indicated there was a change in knowledge when comparing the number of correct responses selected on the pre-test to the correct responses selected on the post-test. After a thorough analysis, the investigator discovered that Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) recipients were comfortable utilizing their WIC EBT card; however, there was a need for additional education on the products covered by the WIC EBT card.

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“…The final feature—people—also affects customers’ decisions on where to shop and the food and beverage products to which they have access. Despite limited literature, studies indicate that negative social interactions influence people’s shopping locations and can range from inefficient, unenthusiastic service to forms of discrimination and stigma [ 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 ]. For instance, Black Americans have described employees watching, following, or treating them with less respect and experienced this behavior while shopping in predominantly White neighborhoods or in stores owned by individuals of a race/ethnicity different than their own [ 94 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 ].…”

Section: Retail Food Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Model Depicting the Retail Food Environment and Customer Interactions: Components, Outcomes, and Future Directions

Winkler

Zenk

Baquero

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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The retail food environment (RFE) has important implications for dietary intake and health, and dramatic changes in RFEs have been observed over the past few decades and years. Prior conceptual models of the RFE and its relationships with health and behavior have played an important role in guiding research; yet, the convergence of RFE changes and scientific advances in the field suggest the time is ripe to revisit this conceptualization. In this paper, we propose the Retail Food Environment and Customer Interaction Model to convey the evolving variety of factors and relationships that convene to influence food choice at the point of purchase. The model details specific components of the RFE, including business approaches, actors, sources, and the customer retail experience; describes individual, interpersonal, and household characteristics that affect customer purchasing; highlights the macro-level contexts (e.g., communities and nations) in which the RFE and customers behave; and addresses the wide-ranging outcomes produced by RFEs and customers, including: population health, food security, food justice, environmental sustainability, and business sustainability. We believe the proposed conceptualization helps to (1) provide broad implications for future research and (2) further highlight the need for transdisciplinary collaborations to ultimately improve a range of critical population outcomes.

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WIC Recipients in the Retail Environment: A Qualitative Study Assessing Customer Experience and Satisfaction

Cited by 47 publications

References 16 publications

Association Between Usage of an App to Redeem Prescribed Food Benefits and Redemption Behaviors Among the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children Participants: Cross-Sectional Study

Association Between Usage of an App to Redeem Prescribed Food Benefits and Redemption Behaviors Among the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children Participants: Cross-Sectional Study

Empowering Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Recipients

A Model Depicting the Retail Food Environment and Customer Interactions: Components, Outcomes, and Future Directions

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