Validity of a Market Basket Assessment Tool for Use in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education Healthy Retail Initiatives

Abstract

ObjectiveTo assess the validity of the Market Basket Analysis Tool (MBAT) for food environment quality within various retail environments compared to the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey in Stores (NEMS-S). MethodsIn-store assessments using the MBAT and the NEMS-S on the same day in a given store were conducted in grocery stores, corner stores, pharmacies, and dollar stores in a metropolis, and urban and rural counties across 4 states: Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Virginia. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and ANOVAs were used to assess store location, store type differences, and MBAT and NEMS-S scores. ResultsMarket Basket Analysis Tool and NEMS-S data were collected from 114 stores. Market Basket Analysis Tool and NEMS-S total and all individual component scores were significantly correlated (r = 0.84, P ≤ 0.0001; r range, 0.51–0.88; P ≤ 0.0001). Conclusions and ImplicationsThe MBAT offers a methodology to measure the food retail environment focusing on the availability of healthful food items with a reduced training time and streamlined data collection compared with the NEMS-S. Future work can assess the completion time of the MBAT compared with the NEMS-S and the ability of the MBAT to detect changes in food environment quality post healthy food retail interventions.