PHRESH Facts: Pittsburgh Hill/Homewood Research on Eating, Shopping & Health

PHRESH is a 5-year project that explores food choices, food availability, health, and well being as well as other issues important to the community. PHRESH launches in April of this year in the Hill District and Homewood neighborhoods. We are examining whether changing the food environment — such as increasing access to fresh fruits, vegetables and meats — can change and possibly improve the health of residents in that community.

Researchers from RAND Corporation’s Health Unit (RAND Health), in partnership with Hill House Association, Operation Better Block, Inc., and the University Center for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR) at the University of Pittsburgh.

RAND Health is a research division within the RAND Corporation. RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision-making through research and analysis. More information about RAND Health can be found on the website.

Although the Hill District and Homewood are different in many ways, they also have many things in common: Residents from Homewood and the Hill District must go outside of their neighborhoods to grocery shop. However, the Hill District will be opening a new grocery store in late fall of 2011, and there is not a new grocery store planned for Homewood within that time frame. Looking at both of these neighborhoods will help us understand how residents currently make the food and shopping choices they do, how they see their neighborhoods and the resources they have there and whether changes in food shopping and other health factors are linked to the new grocery store.

At the end of the project, the information collected can be used to understand why people make the choices they make. At the same time, the project team and partners think that PHRESH is a wonderful opportunity to gather important information about both communities.

The PHRESH project will help us start to answer the following questions:

• Do residents have adequate transportation to buy groceries?
• If residents have to walk, how safe is the route to the nearest store?
• Are there needs that, if met, could lead to better health and wellness in communities?
• How do people think healthy foods compare to less healthy foods when it comes to price and availability?
• How does safety affect health and well-being in the Homewood and Hill District communities?
• What types of food are available in the Homewood and Hill District communities?

It takes a long time to finish a project like PHRESH. We will be presenting what we learn as the project progresses, probably starting in about a year and a half. These presentations will be advertised starting in 2012. We believe that the more the communities understand and know about the health of their residents, the more empowered they will become. We also welcome residents' feedback. That’s why we have the PHRESH Field Office phone number 412.281.4600 and will soon have a toll-free number where residents can call with questions.

Yes. There are two Community Advisory Boards, one based on Homewood and one based in the Hill. They are made up of a variety of people: mothers with children, youths, older residents, as well as representatives from social service agencies and community businesses.

If you have other questions, you can contact the Field Coordinator, La'Vette Wagner, at lmwagner@rand.org or at 412.281.4600.

Artist renderings of the new grocery store to be built in the Hill District have been provided by the Hill House Association. They can be viewed on the concepts page.

PHRESH is an independent project and is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a government organization. PHRESH is not affiliated with the new supermarket that is coming to the Hill District in any way, or affiliated with any other supermarket.

Residents asked to participate are chosen randomly, which means that only 1,650 households will be selected by chance from among all the households in the Hill District or Homewood.

This year, you will be asked to participate in an in-person interview, which will take about 90 minutes, and in a telephone interview, which will take about 30 minutes. In the spring of 2013, you will be contacted again and asked to participate in the same two interviews.

The PHRESH interviewers will ask questions about the food residents eat — the what, when, and where questions. Interviewers will also ask questions about residents’ daily lives, including their perspectives on healthy eating and general questions about the people they eat with. The interview will include questions about where residents buy food, what foods they buy, the types of food they can find in their neighborhoods, eating a healthy diet, and neighborhood safety. Interviewers will also ask to measure your height and weight. There are questions that will ask you to list all the foods you ate in the past 24 hours — this is called a dietary recall. You will be asked to complete the dietary recall — the questions about what you have eaten in the past 24 hours — again, over the phone, 1 to 2 weeks after you complete the interview in-person.

One of the benefits of participating in the PHRESH interview is that you will receive a debit gift card to thank you for your time. You will receive a $25 debit gift card for participating in the first, in-person interview, which will take about 90 minutes. When you participate in the second dietary recall interview, you will receive a $15 debit gift card; a total of $40. Other benefits of participating in PHRESH include feedback on your height and weight measurements and whether your health could be at risk because of your weight. Also, the PHRESH team is committed to ensuring that important information about your neighborhood reaches local policymakers. The PHRESH team will be in touch to keep you updated on the progress of the study and we will contact you in 2 years to ask that you do the interviews again.

This project only involves interview questions and a measure of height and weight. There are no medicines or needles. The only risks would be potential embarrassment in answering certain interview questions or if someone told your personal information to someone outside the research team. It is extremely unlikely that someone will tell your personal information to someone outside the research team; all PHRESH interviewers are receiving training and have signed an agreement to keep your answers confidential, which means that we will not share them with anyone outside the project team. Also, the interviewer will ask you to self-respond to some questions that are particularly sensitive, such as income. Self-responding means that the interviewer will not know your answers, since you will enter them yourself. It is extremely important to the PHRESH team to keep the information you provide strictly confidential; and we will destroy any information that identifies you at the end of the project.

You can only participate in the interview in one of two ways:

1. If your household was selected by chance, or
2. If there is a home selected for participation that turns out to be vacant, your home may be selected next because you are the nearest neighbor.

You will receive a postcard in the mail letting you know that you were selected. Also, if you are selected, an interviewer from the PHRESH project will come to your home to ask you to complete the PHRESH interview.

If you are not home, the interviewer will leave a PHRESH brochure at your door with instructions on how you can participate.

1. PHRESH interviewers will have an ID badge that clearly says they are from the PHRESH project.
2. They will also have the PHRESH logo on their shirt AND bag.

If you are not sure, contact the research team.

If you do not want the interviewer to come in, ask the interviewer to leave a brochure so you can call for an appointment to come to our office or to meet at another public place.

PHRESH interviewers will never try to enter your home without your invitation.

Your safety is our concern.

Not everyone will be asked to participate in the interview. If you are not randomly chosen to participate then you can not participate in the interview. This makes sure the project gets a fair and accurate picture of both neighborhoods.

No. It is your choice to participate. If you are asked to participate and you do not want to, simply tell the interviewer that you do not want to participate. No questions will be asked.

Yes. To thank you for your time, you will receive a $25 debit gift card for participating in the first, in-person interview. If you participate in the second dietary recall interview over the phone 1 to 2 weeks later, you will receive another $15 debit gift card. These debit gift cards will be mailed to you. If you cannot receive them by mail, please call the PHRESH Field Office at 412.281.4600 to make arrangements to pick up your debit gift card.

The in-person interview will take about 90 minutes. This includes the first dietary recall. The second dietary recall, which you can do about 2 weeks later, will take about 30 minutes over the phone.

Yes. By calling the PHRESH Field Office at 412.281.4600, you can make an appointment to do the interview at your home or a public place. All interviews will be completed in a private location to ensure your responses are kept confidential.

If you do not want to complete the PHRESH interview in your home, you can make an appointment to do the interview in a public place. More information is available from the interviewers or at the Field Office (located at the Hill House Association) — call 412.281.4600.

You will be asked to complete the interview twice, once in the spring of 2011 (with a follow-up phone call 2 weeks later) and again in the spring of 2013.

No, you are always free to decline to participate in the PHRESH interview. However, if you complete the interview once, we hope you will want to do it a second time. You will be paid $40 in debit gift cards each time you participate in both the in person interview and the follow-up phone call — $80 total if you participate in 2011 and 2013.

No. Unfortunately the interview can not be completed online.

A dietary recall is an interview that asks you to remember all the foods you ate or drank in the previous day. If you participate in PHRESH, we will ask you to complete 2 dietary recalls. The first will be done in person. The second will be done over the phone 1 to 2 weeks later.

One of the questions PHRESH is trying to explore is what types of food are available in the Homewood and Hill District neighborhoods. To do this, PHRESH data collectors are visiting every place that sells food — such as restaurants and convenience stores — in Homewood and the Hill District to observe the types, quality and prices of food available for purchase. It is very important we collect this information so that we can understand what types of food are available in the Hill District and Homewood.

Although we hope that you will participate, you do not have to.

Data collectors will have identification badges and uniforms that will make them easily recognizable to you and your staff. The data collectors have been instructed to introduce themselves to you and/or your staff member and ask permission to conduct the observation. You do not have to consent to participate in PHRESH if you do not wish to. If you do not wish to participate, please tell the data collector.

PHRESH data collectors will observe the types of food you have for sale and take notes on the quantity and quality of those items. Data collectors will also take notes on the price of some food items. Data collectors will observe the location of your establishment, such as address, and the surroundings, such as whether there is nearby parking.

We have designed the observation to be as non-invasive as possible. PHRESH data collectors will not interact with customers and will be discreet in their observations. The observation should take no more than 30 minutes and may take less if you do not sell many food items.

The data collectors have been instructed to introduce themselves to you and/or the manager on duty and ask permission to conduct the observation. Once permission is given, the data collector will quickly and discreetly complete the observation. You and your staff will not have to answer any questions.

The observation should take about 30 minutes and may take less if you do not sell many food items.

The information we collect in your store or restaurant will remain confidential. We will not share this information with anyone outside the project team, and we will not share this information with your competitors.

No. PHRESH is not affiliated with the Health Department, and will not share individual information with the Health Department.