Abstract
In recent years, communities and institutions have sought new interventions intended to reduce sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption among children. Among these interventions are “SSB-free zones,” where such beverages are not permitted to be consumed on the premises. Insufficient knowledge still exists, however, about the readiness for such restrictive SSB policies within health care institutions. Understanding attitudes toward SSB consumption among adults is necessary to guide an institution-wide policy, where staff and patients serve as role models for parents and their children. We conducted focus groups with health center patients and staff to determine perceptions surrounding health and SSB consumption and to better understand the support and readiness (or lack thereof) for an SSB-free zone intervention prior to its implementation. We found that contextual practices present challenges to breaking personal consumption habits, even if beverages are banned from the worksite. Nevertheless, participants expressed support for SSB-free zones, and recommended more education about the harmful effects of soda and energy drink consumption to help improve acceptability for the policy. We conclude that policies restricting onsite SSB consumption may be more effective when combined with educational information and expressions of understanding that this specific behavior change can be difficult.
Highlights
Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), which include soda, energy drinks and sweetened juices, are recognized as significant contributors to numerous adverse health conditions in the United States, among children [1,2,3,4,5]
For our audience, education and information is a critical component for an sugar sweetened beverage (SSB)-free policy to achieve community acceptance and support
While public health advocates can be keen to dismiss education as an effective public health tool,[30] our study indicated that education is essential to alleviating concerns about removing beverage choices in institutional settings as participants asked us for more information to support their own personal reduction in SSB use
Summary
Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), which include soda, energy drinks and sweetened juices, are recognized as significant contributors to numerous adverse health conditions in the United States, among children [1,2,3,4,5]. SSB consumption is recognized as a predictor of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer [6,7,8]. African American and Hispanic Americans, disproportionately represented in the American obesity epidemic,[11] consume. Assessment of attitudes and readiness for a sugar sweetened beverage-free healthcare center in the Bronx, NY disproportionally more SSBs than non-Hispanic whites[12]. In 2017, the American Medical Association House of Delegates called for new strategies to reduce SSB consumption, including restricting access in hospitals, schools, and other community-based settings[13]
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