Enhancing Food as Medicine interventions for food insecure postpartum women in Central Texas

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Alexandra.E VandenBerg, UTHealth Houston School of Public Health

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
3Mposttest_AHA_final.xlsx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet 50.8 KB 09/11/2025 01:03:PM
3_Month_FBM_Post_Test.docx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document 32 KB 09/11/2025 01:03:PM
FBM_3M_posttest_codebook_Final.xlsx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet 15.6 KB 09/11/2025 01:03:PM
FBM_Post_Test.docx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document 35.2 KB 09/11/2025 01:03:PM
FBM_Pre-test.docx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document 37.5 KB 09/11/2025 01:03:PM
FBM_Pre-test_codebook_Final.xlsx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet 17.3 KB 09/11/2025 01:03:PM
FBM_immediate_post_codebook_Final.xlsx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet 17.9 KB 09/11/2025 01:03:PM
Fidelity table.xlsx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet 15 KB 09/11/2025 01:03:PM
Order and Delivery Log.xlsx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet 242.1 KB 09/11/2025 01:03:PM
Pretest_AHA_final.csv text/csv 29.6 KB 09/11/2025 01:03:PM

Project Citation: 

VandenBerg, Alexandra.E. Enhancing Food as Medicine interventions for food insecure postpartum women in Central Texas . Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-09-11. https://doi.org/10.3886/E237851V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary Texas has particularly high rates of both food insecurity and maternal comorbidities, with the highest rates among ethnic and racial minorities. To address these disparities, in collaboration with two local community food provider partners, Ascension Seton Medical Center Austin (ASMCA) created the Food is the Best Medicine intervention. This intervention is a food access program which provides new, food-insecure mothers with fresh, locally sourced food delivered to their homes for eight weeks postpartum, ensuring that both mothers and babies have healthy food choices during the critical postpartum period. This study tests the efficacy and feasibility of two enhanced versions of the FBM program: the FBM-In person and the FBM-Virtual. These versions include the original 8-weeks delivered food boxes, as well as an educational and social support component. For the FBM-Virtual, all materials and counseling sessions will be offered on-line while for the FBM-In Person, the materials will be delivered via home-visits from Community Health Workers. The proposed study will answer the research question: Is there a significant difference between in-person programming (FBM-In Person) versus virtual programming (FBM-Virtual) on implementation feasibility and impact on food insecure, postpartum women’s behaviors and food insecurity status immediately upon completion of the program and 3 months upon completion of the program? Food insecure postpartum mothers (n=100) recruited from ASMCA will be randomly assigned to either FBM-In person or the FBM-Virtual group. Each group will receive their respective 8-week intervention. Outcomes will be measured at baseline (T0), upon completion of the intervention (T1), and 3 months after intervention completion (T2). Primary outcomes include: food security status, diet quality, breastfeeding, mental health, rates of home cooking, and rationing coping strategies. Changes in key outcomes will be modeled using the generalized linear mixed effects model, utilizing a time-by-treatment term, adjusted for covariates, and accounting for repeated measures. Process data to assess implementation fidelity and intervention satisfaction will consist of both quantitative and qualitative data from participants, CHWs and partner organizations. The results of this study will provide guidance for scaling up the enhanced FBM interventions to other hospitals in order to reduce health disparities experienced by food insecure, postpartum women.
Funding Sources:  View help for Funding Sources American Heart Association (24FIM1264463)

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms Food is Medicine; Post-partum; Food insecurity
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage Central Texas (Austin)
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 1/1/2024 – 6/30/2025
Collection Date(s):  View help for Collection Date(s) 1/22/2024 – 7/2/2025
Universe:  View help for Universe Low income women in Austin entering the post-partum period
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) survey data

Methodology

Response Rate:  View help for Response Rate Of the 150 women who entered the study and completed baseline surveys, 139 women (93%) completed the immediate post-test (at 8 weeks), and 112 women completed the delayed post-test (at 3 months), for a follow-up rate of 75.5% (of baseline).
Sampling:  View help for Sampling All post-partum women delivering at a single hospital system in Austin, who met the inclusion criteria (food insecure, 18-44 years, English or Spanish speaking, no dietary restrictions, and living within an eligible area for weekly delivery of food is medicine food packages) and consented to participate in the study were included. 
Data Source:  View help for Data Source Survey data obtained from participants over 3 waves of data collection (baseline, 8 weeks (immediate posttest), and 3 months (delayed posttest)
Collection Mode(s):  View help for Collection Mode(s) web-based survey
Scales:  View help for Scales Edinburgh postnatal depression scale, Food security scale (6 item, past month), DSQ-10 (for Fruit and vegetable consumption), Nutrition security scale (adapted), Financial Anxiety scale (adapted).

Questions also ask about breastfeeding behavior (CDC questions), cooking behavior (developed by research team for this study.
Weights:  View help for Weights No survey weights were used.
Unit(s) of Observation:  View help for Unit(s) of Observation post-partum women
Geographic Unit:  View help for Geographic Unit no geographical indicators included

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Published Versions

V1 [2025-09-11]

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