Juggling the Five Dimensions of Food Access: Perceptions of Rural Low Income Residents

Lauri Andress, PhD, JD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy, Management, and Leadership in the WVU School of Public Health, and co-author, Cindy Fitch, PhD, Associate Dean of Programming and Research for WVU Extension Service, recently published their food access study in Appetite.

The study, Juggling the Five Dimensions of Food Access: Perceptions of Rural Low Income Residents, assesses nutritional problems and issues experienced by 30 women living in rural West Virginia. Dr. Andress and her team examined how low income women enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program perceived their food environment and the availability of healthy food.

After qualitative data was collected and analyzed, the team made recommendations, including creating a formalized structure for vendors and low-income clients to discuss food-related concerns and pursuing further research on food access issues for rural, low income women.