New study uses photovoice methodology and qualitatively compares citizens' perceptions about the food environment in three Bilbao neighborhoods with different socioeconomic levels. The findings of the study are published in the journal Appetite. Previous studies have revealed the influence of unhealthy food environments on the population's eating behavior. Yet the socioeconomic differences in these environments and their influence on the diet had never been studied previously.
‘Unhealthy food environments can influence the population's eating behavior.
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The doctor in the UPV/EHU's Faculty of Medicine and Nursing Leyre Gravina said "we have for the first time qualitatively compared the perception of the food environment in three neighborhoods with differing socioeconomic contexts --Deusto (high socioeconomic level), Uribarri (medium), and San Francisco (low)--, using photovoice methodology. So we have managed to analyze the whole spectrum of Bilbao making it possible to explain how the neighborhoods may affect their residents, in particular in terms of food".In the photovoice study the participants (a total of 23 residents in the above-mentioned neighborhoods) "analyzed the environment closest to them, their neighborhood, by means of photos that they themselves took and discussed in groups," explained Doctor Gravina, lead researcher in the UPV/EHU's Nursing and Health Promotion research group. "The research group then went on to group together six emerging themes that inform or describe the food environment of Bilbao: unhealthy eating behaviors, cultural diversity, retail transformation, social relations, precariousness, and healthy eating."
A book, policy proposals for action and a new project
Although the availability of high-quality food and fresh products in the three neighborhoods was stressed, the participants discussed the reasons for unhealthy eating, characterized by the excessive consumption of alcohol (high-level neighborhood), sugary foods (high and medium neighborhood) and fast food (medium and low neighborhood). That way "we saw that in actual fact, both the environment and the needs of each neighborhood were different, but we detected similarities in all of them," added the researcher, "and they are the existence of great diversity and accessibility of international food in all of them; tolerance existing in our culture when it comes to consuming large amounts of alcohol and sugary beverages at celebrations; the limited involvement of the citizens and the authorities in improving the neighborhoods; and finally, the promoting of healthy eating by small retail outlets and public markets that offer good quality of food, close contact, and fresh products."
The differences found between neighborhoods highlight the availability of food items, the diversity of food outlets, and social and cultural factors as ones that determine the population's eating behavior. "Our results provide new information to better understand how urban environments may affect how the population eats from an equity perspective," she stressed. Gravina remarked that the value of this citizen-based participatory project lies "in being able to turn the results of the research into policy proposals for action to improve the area studied and have the opportunity to transmit to the rest of the community (including people in positions of political responsibility) their needs and proposals for improvement. The creation of more effective policies that emanate from citizens to improve their own environment is thus strengthened, and this will have an effect on their health".
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Source-Eurekalert