The foods we eat are important because food helps us express our culture and brings people together. Foods also can help keep our bodies healthy. Food can also put us at risk for diet-related diseases.
To understand how food can impact our health, it is important to understand the relationship between the foods people eat and health outcomes. Our Food at Home research team has developed a way to measure the food that is available in our everyday home environments. We created a checklist of foods and beverages available in the home called the Home Food Inventory, or HFI for short, in English speaking households. We know that the foods that are available in our homes are the foods we choose to eat when we are at home. We updated the HFI so that it is shorter and make sure it is useful for both people who speak Spanish or English at home. The changes included adding cultural foods, translating the HFI into Spanish, making sure the HFI was easy to complete, and developing an electronic version of the HFI. The electronic version of the HFI provided the written word, a visual image, and a link to hear the word spoken aloud in English or Spanish. To ensure the HFI best served the needs of the Latinx community, we engaged community organizations for their input and have developed a community advisory board.
For the research part of this work, a variety of activities occurred as a way to assess the accuracy of the HFI. We recruited adults in the community who do most of their household’s grocery shopping to participate. First, we had the adult in a household and a staff member who speaks the language of the household complete the HFI. Second, we had the adult complete the HFI one more time on their own and compare how similar answers are over time. Third, we had adults complete interviews about what they ate in the last 24 hours and compare how this information was related to their answers on the HFI. We also measured height and weight.
In the end, we hoped to better understand how home food environments are related to the health of both people who speak Spanish or English at home. Then we will use this information to design programs and messages to help families have healthier home food environments.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the food you have at home important?
The foods we eat are important because food helps us express our culture and brings people together. Foods also can help keep our bodies healthy. Food can also put us at risk for diet-related diseases.
Why are we doing this research study?
To understand how food can impact our health, it is important to understand the relationship between the foods people eat and health outcomes. Our Food at Home research team has developed a way to measure the food that is available in our everyday home environments. We created a checklist of foods and beverages available in the home called the Home Food Inventory, or HFI for short. We know that the foods that are available in our homes are the foods we choose to eat when we are at home. We want to update the HFI so that it is shorter and make sure it is useful for people who speak English at home. We also want the HFI to be useful for people who speak Spanish at home. We updated the HFI by adding cultural foods and translating the HFI into Spanish. We want to making sure the HFI is easy to complete in both English and Spanish. We also developed an electronic version of the HFI. The electronic version of the HFI will provide the written word, a visual image, and a link to hear the word spoken aloud in English or Spanish.
Who can be a part of the study?
You can be a part of this research study if
- You are at least 18 years old
- You are the person in your household who does most of the grocery shopping and/or cooking
- You speak Spanish or English at home
What will I do if I sign up for the Food at Home study?
The research study includes 3 parts that will be completed over a months time. 2 home visits, 1 food interview. You will receive gift cards for completing each part of the research study.
What will happen at the Home Visits?
- During the first home visit, two study staff members will come to your house. They will explain the study to you, measure your height and weight, and ask you to complete the HFI checklist about the foods you have in your home on an IPad. While you are completing the HFI checklist, a study staff member will be completing it too, so we can see if the same foods are checked off.
- The first home visit will take about 2 hours.
- You will receive a $50 gift card.
- During the second home visit we will ask you to complete the HFI checklist one more time.
- The second home visit will take about 1 hour and you will receive a $25 for completing the checklist.
What will the food interview be like?
- You will do one interview that ask about the food and drinks you had the day before.
- The food interviews will take about 30 minutes each and will be done over the phone.
- The Food Amounts Booklet that you will need for the food interview here.
- Participants received $25 for completing the food interview.
Why was the HFI checklist completed twice?
- We know the food people have at home changes so we want to do the checklist two times so we get better idea of the food you usually have at home.
- Participants received $25 for completing the checklist a second time.
What id we hope to learn?
In the end, we hoped to better understand how home food environments are related to the health of both households who speak Spanish or English at home. Then we will use this information to design programs and messages to help families have healthier home food environments.
Study Team:
