Determining the Role of Food-Related Values and Food-Related Lifestyle in Influencing Food-Related Behavior of Guilford County Residents

Guilford County is a food insecure county with 24 census tracts regarded as a food desert. Seventeen of these tracts are in Greensboro and sevenin High point. The medical cost of combating diseases arising from unhealthy eating associated with food insecurity (practically food desert areas)is high. The objective of this study was to determine the influence of food-related values on the food-related lifestyle and food-related behavior ofGuilford County residents. Data was collected by trained enumerators from a random sample of 350 respondents (82 food desert.268 non-fooddesert) via a telephone survey.Data was analyzed as follows (1) factor analysis was used to identify the underlying dimensions that summarized food related value and foodrelatedlifestyle, (2) cluster analysis was used to segment respondents into 2 groups each for food desert and non-food desert residents based onsocial values and personal values (3) following segmentation, Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to compare segments derived from cluster analysison personal &social values, food-related lifestyles, and food-related behavior (4) Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to compare food desert & non-fooddesert respondents on personal & social values, food-related lifestyles, and food-related behavior.The result showed that food desert and non-food desert respondents share the same social values but different personal value, food desertrespondents love to snack rather than eating a big dinner, prefer to buy organic food while non-food desert respondents prefer eating more than onecourse of dinner time and eating lunch at café restaurant. Respondents defined as food desert and non-food desert residents and the segments ineach group differed on food-related values, food-related lifestyle, and food-related behavior.Intervention programs developed should start with behaviors that are familiar to the target audience and should involve them in the design ofthese programs. For example, since non-food desert respondents love to eat out, educating them on how to select healthy food off the menu and startwith small portion size would be more effective in modifying their behavior rather than just asking them to stop eating out.