Joseph R. Sharkey, PhD MPH RD Scott Horel, MAG

1. Neighborhood Deprivation and Locational Disadvantage for Access to the Food Store Environment in Texas Colonias Joseph R. Sharkey, PhD MPH RD Scott Horel, MAG

2. Areas of Persistent Poverty • Rapidly growing area • Much of population increase into new developments - colonias

3. Colonias • Important low-income housing areas • Principal characteristics • Cheaply acquired land • Self-help dwelling construction • Physical conditions improve over time • Low-density settlements (ETJ)

4. Hispanic Older Adults Face Environmental Challenges Food security Healthful eating Prevention and management of nutrition-related health conditions

5. Purpose • Assess the food environment in targeted colonia CBG • Examine association between neighborhood deprivation and locational disadvantage for food store access for older adults

8. Ground-Truthed Methods

9. 65% gas 47% fast food 23% grocery 27% mobile 31% F/V 35% baked 5 sm 2 med Food Stores(n = 422) n = 255 Proportion of all Food Stores n = 97 n = 18 n = 13 n = 37 n = 2 Discount Stores Beverage Stores Specialty Markets Grocery/ Supermarket Convenience Stores Pharmacies

11. Hidalgo Grocery Stores

12. Hidalgo Convenience Stores

13. Neighborhood Deprivation • Concentrated neighborhood (Census block group) disadvantage • Education <9 yr • Unemployed • Lack plumbing • Lack kitchen • No telephone • Poverty • Public assistance • Low, moderate, high, and very high deprivation

14. Neighborhood Characteristics

15. Neighborhoods (CBG) ≥20% Older Adults 24% (n = 46) 60.0% of residents with no vehicle 34% lacked a complete kitchen 37% poverty

16. Locational Disadvantage • Distance from CBG centroid to nearest FS and FSP • Spatial center of CBG • Network distance • Separate for major types of FS and FSP • Quartiles for low disadvantage to very high • Combined grocery stores/supermarkets and convenience into one measure of locational disadvantage to any FS

17. Locational Disadvantage 25% of older adults lived in neighborhoods 2.3-9.9 miles one-way to the nearest supermarket 14% of older adults lived in neighborhoods ≥1.3 miles one-way to the nearest convenience store

18. Deprivation and Location 3.4-14.9 1.4-4.8

20. Conclusion • First step in understanding influence of food environment on food choice and diet quality in Hispanic families who live in persistent poverty areas. • Limited or non-existent public transportation • Many residents do not have access to vehicle • Limited attention to environmental influence, despite food assistance programs.

21. Difficult to initiate or maintain healthful eating habits without access to healthful foods. • Essential to combine environmental approaches with traditional health individuals. • Preparation for policy change to strengthen food assistance programs, program delivery activities, or interventions to improve nutritional health should include an understanding of where people live and where they shop for food.

22. Acknowledgements • USDA RIDGE Program, Southern Rural Development Center at Mississippi State University • Texas Healthy Aging Research Network (TxHAN) at SRPH