Food-for-Families: Experimental Grocery Store Study
Food-for-Families: Experimental Grocery Store Study
This is a study about how the price of foods affects buying choices at the grocery store. The
 price of foods can have a big impact on what people choose to buy and prices change over
 time. This study is being done to see how changes in food prices affect what mothers choose
 for their families.
It is well known that the price of a given food affects the amount of that item individuals
 will purchase. Yet little is known about how specific groups, such as obese/overweight
 individuals and those with lower incomes, change their food purchasing decisions depending on
 food price changes. Evidence shows that these groups have lower quality diets and worse
 health outcomes than their normal weight and higher income counterparts. Therefore, it is
 important to gain a better understanding of how food price changes affect purchasing
 decisions among these population groups in order to develop targeted nutrition interventions
 to improve their diet quality. To investigate this, the researchers will create a
 laboratory-based grocery store, in which pictures of foods will be used in lieu of actual
 foods. Food prices will be indicated on each picture. The participants will be given play
 money and a budget, and asked to "purchase" foods in the mock grocery store. The price of
 foods will be changed throughout the study to investigate how participants change their
 purchasing decisions based on these price changes.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Have at least one child up to 18 years of age residing in the household

 -  Primary grocery shopper for the household

 -  No health conditions or food practices that substantially limit food choice

 -  Not currently pregnant

 -  Consent to the study design

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  Male

 -  < 18 years of age

 -  Not a mother, or children not living with subject in their household

 -  No children below the age of 18 years of age

 -  Not the primary grocery shopper for their household

 -  Health conditions or food practices that substantially limit food choice

 -  Currently pregnant