Westside Seniors Food Access Mapping: A Community-Based Experiential Learning Project

An Analysis of Food Security among the Seniors of the South Granville Community

Written by: Anita Balakumar, Jessica Luong, Tahira Naroth, Samantha Saddler, Natasha Suntewari, Leon Voorwalt, and Stephanie Yoon Group 27 of the Land and Food Systems 350 Class The University of British Columbia

Table of Contents:
A.Executive Summary.3 B. Introduction..4 C. Research Methods....4 D.Findings Results..........6 Discussion............6 Limitation.7 E. Recommendations....7 F. Conclusion...8 G.References9 H.Appendix....10

A. Executive Summary
This report summarizes the work of the Westside Seniors Food Access Mapping project. It is a community-based experiential learning (CBEL) project assigned to students of LFS 350, a course taught at the University of British Columbia. This project focuses on the South Granville community of Vancouver, B.C., which stretches from Hemlock to Fir and 2nd to 16th; this area has been recognized for its lack of affordable grocery stores. This report will describe the project based on the research question: What proportion of seniors that visit the South Granville Seniors Centre can be classified as food secure? The applied method of research was surveys in the form of interviews. Nineteen seniors from the South Granville Seniors Centre were surveyed, and the data was collected and analyzed using a Google spreadsheet. The results of the data reveal that a majority of the seniors (89%) find it convenient to get nutritious and healthy food and over half of the seniors (53%) find healthy and nutritious food reasonably priced. Finally, it takes most of the seniors (84%) more than five minutes to travel to the store they visit most often and many (66%) say that they can find all the food items they would like to purchase where they shop for groceries. After evaluating these values, this report concludes that 89% of the seniors who visit the South Granville Seniors Center are experiencing food security when it comes to food accessibility regarding the convenience of getting to the store and 16% when it comes to distance from the store. In addition, only 53% experience food security when it comes to affordability and only 66% for food availability. Therefore, initiatives should be taken to improve the grocery shopping experience for these seniors when it comes to the availability and affordability of nutritious and healthy food. We recommend that in the future, research groups spend more time conducting individual surveys. Additionally, groups following our work should consider an alternate method of gathering data; as this may help motivate greater participation by seniors. Both these improvements may help ensure a larger sample size, resulting in more significant findings. The report recognizes that limitations exist in this study. These limitations include: the self-report data from the seniors and the interpretation of survey questions by the seniors may be subjective.

B. Introduction
Group 27 of this term consists of Land and Food Systems (LFS) 350 students from the University of British Columbia (UBC): Anita, Jessica, Natasha, Leon, Samantha, Stephanie and Tahira. Our CBEL project, Westside Seniors Food Access Mapping, involves mapping food accessibility for seniors who live on the Westside. Our group worked closely with our assigned community partner, Zsuzsi Fodor. She is the community organizer and Westside Food Collaborative coordinator of the Kitsilano Neighbourhood House (KNH). She sent our team to the South Granville Seniors Center to gather our data. Ms. Fodor explained to us that over the last few years, the South Granville area has become more focused on pleasing tourists rather than local residents (Z. Fodor, personal communication, October 15, 2013). As a result, small businesses are being replaced by larger businesses such as Pottery Barn and TNA (Z. Fodor, personal communication, October 15, 2013). Consequently, small store owners are suffering from increasing rents, which made it exceedingly difficult for grocery stores in particular, to make a profit (personal communication, November 27, 2013). Ms. Fodor further explained that the few grocery stores left in the area are forced to increase their prices to accommodate the increased rent prices. This forces residents of the South Granville area to either spend more time travelling to a more affordable grocery store, or spend more money on groceries (Z. Fodor, personal communication, November 27, 2013). Our community partner would like our research to accurately reflect the standing of food security in the area (Z. Fodor, personal communication, October 31, 2013). The goal is to obtain grants to host pocket markets at the South Granville Seniors Center as they have done in the past (Z. Fodor, personal communication, October 31, 2013). The ultimate goal is to affect food policy in the area, in order to bring in more affordable food options (Z. Fodor, personal communication, October 31, 2013). Given that our project is strongly based on the information given to us by the South Granville Seniors Centre population, we identified our target neighborhood as an area between Hemlock and Fir and between 2nd and 16th in Vancouver (see figure 5). Moreover, the data we collected came exclusively from the seniors visiting the Seniors Centre, focusing our research further. Our next task was to consider how we would define food security, within the context of this project. Cohen states that food security occurs for a community when all of its members have access to a certain supply of affordable food (as cited in Vasquez et al., 2007). Lastly, it seemed to us that the most straightforward way to map food security in the area would be to find the proportion of seniors that could be considered food secure, given our researched definition of food security. From this we arrived at our final research question: What proportion of seniors that visit the South Granville Seniors Center can be classified as food secure?

C. Research Methods
Our research question translates the theoretical framework of our community-based experiential learning (CBEL) project into one that can be researched through a specific methodological approach. CBEL is defined as by UBC as practices and principles that provide students with opportunities to apply our academic knowledge to real world issues (About Us,
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n.d.); conducting community-based research through this survey project definitely allowed us to apply classroom-learned concepts in the real world. Since the nature of our project requires a focus on quantitative information, we primarily wanted to gather tangible data. We established that our primary method of research would be surveys in the form of questionnaires. We planned to hand out surveys to community members and request their participation. Additionally, we entertained the idea of setting up a large map of the South Granville area as a visual aid, so the participants could show us where they live and how far they travel for groceries; we originally planned on using string and stickers in the process. Once our primary method of research was established, we spent weeks creating, editing, and perfecting our survey (refer to figure 6 for final draft). We worked with Ms. Fodor during the primary stages of survey question development and then with our teaching assistant, Molly Campbell, during the editing process. Molly was an excellent resource during this stage, because she had experience in producing surveys; she was able to ensure our work complied with ethical standards. Once our survey was complete, the executive director of the South Granville Seniors Centre (Clemencia) was contacted to arrange an appointment to conduct the project. Our group attended four events over two weeks to carry out the surveys and gather data. As a result, the information sources used during this process were mostly physical contacts: Zsuzsi Fodor and Molly Campbell. During our visits to the centre, we slightly adjusted our method of research. Instead of asking the seniors to complete surveys themselves, we interviewed them and recorded their responses. For the sake of simplicity, we also decided to remove the mapping activity from the in-person interactions. The data collection procedure was relatively straightforward. Our survey included a script to help initiate interaction with the potential participant. Most participants were very responsive and the only information some seniors did not feel comfortable revealing was their age. Our data was inputted into a Google spreadsheet that was accessible to all team members. This organized the results of the questions, so that interpretation and analysis were easier to conduct. Finally, we put the information on a map to represent the results visually. The communication process as a whole was entirely affirmative and the Kitsilano Neighborhood House partner, Zsuzsi, was extremely helpful. She had a clear goal, and made it very easy for us to pursue our project. Our primary form of communication was through email, but we also met with her a few times. Some ethical responsibilities our team discussed before and after executing our surveys included: accurately representing the information provided to us by the participants, respecting the refusal of those not interested in partaking in our survey and visual maps, and acting in a highly respectful manner as representatives of the LFS faculty of the University of British Columbia.

D. Findings Results
We had a total of 19 participants for our survey, with ages ranging from 57 to 92 years. 18 of the participants live outside of a group or senior home. 14 participants do groceries once or twice per week (see figure 1). As the primary mode of transportation, 12 participants walk to the grocery store, 6 take public transportation, and one reported driving (see figure 2). It takes more than five minutes for 16 (84%) of the participants to get to their primary grocery store (see figure 3). A visual of how far the seniors are traveling and which mode of transportation they are using can be seen in figure 4. 17 (89%) participants say that it is convenient for them to buy healthy and nutritious foods. In addition, 10 (53%) say that these healthy and nutritious foods are reasonably priced. 12 of the participants (66%) say that they can find all the food items they would like to purchase where they shop for groceries. When attending the South Granville Senior Centre to survey possible participants, the attendance of seniors was lower than anticipated. The attendance ranged from 7-12 people with those willing to participate ranging from 5-10.

Discussion
When it comes to grocery store choice, some factors that seniors consider are: access to the store, location close to home, quality of fresh foods, and low prices (Angell et al., 2012). The South Granville area is a food desert that lacks affordable food options (Z. Fodor, personal communication, October 31, 2013). This can be the of cause mental stress for those who have problems budgeting for healthy and nutritious foods (Vasquez et al., 2007). Regarding transportation methods, most of the survey participants (68%) reported walking to get to the grocery store. Some seniors claimed that it kept them active and took care of their physical activity for the day. Most of the participants (89%) found it convenient to travel to a store that sells healthy and nutritious food. However, a majority of the seniors (84%) take more than five minutes to reach a grocery store from their homes, indicating that there is room for improvement in food accessibility, as the goal for Vancouver is to have everyone live five minutes away from a grocery store (Z. Fodor, personal communication, November 27, 2013). Additionally, just over half of the participants (53%) reported that healthy and nutritious food options were reasonably priced. The 47% of participants who did not find them reasonably priced suggests that problems may exist for seniors who want affordable healthy and nutritious foods. 34% of the participants reported that they did not find everything they wanted at their primary grocery store, indicating a lack of available and accessible product options. A third of the participants is significant and suggests that many seniors could benefit from more available food options in the area. The South Granville area is a food desert that lacks affordable food options (Z. Fodor, personal communication, October 31, 2013). Our findings indicate that many of the participants
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travelled outside the South Granville area to purchase groceries. It is important to address the issues of affordability and availability in the area because food insecurity can cause poor physical health for those with nutrient deficient diets. It can also cause mental stress for those who have problems budgeting for healthy and nutritious foods (Vasquez et al., 2007)

Limitations and Further Research

Limitations of this study include our reliance on self-reported data and subjective survey responses. Self-reported data can be unreliable due to social desirability bias, which occurs when participants tend to provide socially approved answers to questions asked about them (Weiten & McCann, 2013, pp. 68-69). We believe that social desirability bias may affect the data on whether or not the seniors find food reasonably priced, because our interviews were conducted in a social setting and seniors may be sensitive to questions related to income. The second limitation is that interpretation of our survey questions by the seniors may be subjective. For example, seniors may have different definitions of what constitutes healthy and nutritious food. This can affect the proportion of seniors that find healthy and nutritious food affordable and accessible. For future research, social desirability bias can be minimized by conducting interviews in a private setting and subjectivity can be minimized by providing clear survey questions with clear definitions and explanations.

E. Recommendations
Our first recommendation is to provide a clearer LFS 350 Community-based Food System Project Proposal Form for KNH. The given proposal mentions KNH and the Westside Food Collaborative (UBC, 2013); however, we had minimal contact with these listed groups resulting in confusion as to who we were addressing. A clear proposal form would give future groups more time to survey multiple locations, compile and analyze results of a more varying demographic, and enhance the community-based experiential learning. Additionally, we recommend that, if future groups use the same method research, that they start the design of their survey as early as possible. If given the appropriate time and attention, a much higher frequency of respondents could have been more feasible. Otherwise, they may want to find an alternative way of attaining data, since we believe a large limitation in our results is the small sample size. The data we collected was done through interviews. If we had more time to conduct them, this would have increased our sample size and allowed us to collect more data. Granted, we appreciate that by conducting our surveys in person, we may have motivated more responses than if they were strictly self-motivated. Our team would have benefited from a better understanding of the demographic of Kitsilano, by which we could be able to expect a certain response or tendency for responses. For instance, the difference in numbers between seniors that visit South Granville Senior Centre and those who do not can be great, so therefore by having widened the boundary to surveying all seniors of South Granville and potentially the neighbouring communities, we could have better addressed the issue of a food desert in the Vancouver Westside. By virtue, we encourage future groups to expand their physical boundaries and perhaps collect data from grocery stores themselves, surveying senior customers and spreading the word about KNH and the Westside
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Food Collaborative food security efforts. Finally, Some projects future Land and Food Systems student groups could look into is integrating potential farmers market into the community, where the data was acquired. Our data will directly influence implementation of the Westside Mobile Food Market run at the South Granville Seniors Centre.

F. Conclusion
In conclusion, we were able to identify specific statistics for certain aspects of food security, as we defined it, thus enabling us to answer our research question. 89% of seniors that visited South Granville Senior Center are satisfied with accessibility as it relates to convenience, 16% are satisfied with food accessibility regarding distance from the store, 53% are satisfied with food affordability in their area, and 66% are satisfied with food availability. We believe initiatives should be taken to make the grocery shopping experience easier for seniors visiting the South Granville Seniors Center, when it comes to the availability and affordability of nutritious and healthy food.

References About Us. Centre for Community Engaged Learning. Retrieved from http://www.students.ubc.ca/communitylearning/about/ Angell, R., Megicks, P., Memery, J., Heffernan, T., & Howell, K. (2012). Understanding the older shopper: A behavioural typology. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 19(2), 259-269. University of British Columbia. (2013). LFS 350 Community-based Food System Project Proposal Form: Kitsilano Neighbourhood House. Weiten, W., & McCann, D. (2013). The research enterprise in psychology. Psychology: themes and variations (Custom ed., pp. 42-83). Toronto, Canada: Nelson Education Ltd. Vasquez, V. B., Lanza, D., Hennessey-Lavery, S., Facente, S., Halpin, H. A., & Minkler, M. (2007). Addressing food security through public policy action in a community-based participatory research partnership. Health Promotion Practice, 8(4), 342-349.

Appendix
Anita Balakumar I took LFS 250 last year so I had a preconceived idea of what to expect in LFS 350. To my surprise this experience has been widely different. One reason is that the CBEL project was focused on a completely different demographic than Think&EatGreen@School: seniors as oppose to children. I found this refreshing because I believe that sometimes we can get so caught up on the idea of educating the younger generation to think in terms of food citizenship, that we overlook the older generation and their needs. I really enjoy the LFS faculty as a whole because I feel like the department constantly emphasizes hand-on work; this class was no different in that regard. It feels good to contribute to your community first hand, knowing that your work will help make a difference. I think the TED talks, and plenary presentations complemented the coursework nicely, but at times I found my interest peaked with the e-lectures more than in-class lectures. Jessica Luong While surveying the seniors, I was able to gather information that goes beyond the quantitative data on our survey. For example, I had one participant who emphasized the importance of how food tastes. He is from Europe and he explained that Canadians are very generous when it comes to salt. When him and his wife came to Canada, it took them a while to adapt to the salt content of Canadian food. He was also well travelled. He explained that countries that allow their bananas to ripen on the tree have fantastic tasting bananas, much better than the green bananas we commonly see in grocery stores. From our project, I was able to gather information on food security in the community. However, the personal information from the seniors themselves was also very valuable to me. Tahira Naroth This project took a concept that had only been taught to me in class and made it relevant to my life. Its one thing to hear about world hunger and food security as an issue, but its completely different when it is happening in your own backyard and you get to see how it affects people in the community. I think its extremely important to make concepts a reality for students/people and it is hard to do that in a classroom setting. I do think that the classroom material was helpful and added to the CBEL project. We were given the opportunity to be involved in helping our communitys food security as well as given the necessary tools to do so. All in all, the project was very enlightening. Samantha Saddler My experience with our CBEL project was a positive one; since I am looking to go into nursing after my undergraduate degree I found our research to be a unique perspective on the geriatric population. Specifically how seniors view a healthy lifestyle, and how they base their activities around accessing food. In regards to city planning and accessibility, it has motivated me to enter the healthcare field with a new perspective on how seniors view their daily routine.
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My experience with the various e-lectures such as Ted talks was really beneficial. This kind of alternate study is a fantastic way to further develop a social knowledge of the topics which we covered in this course. I noticed that I was more able to connect points through our CBEL project with ideas we had gone over in the e-lectures, such as the guerrilla gardener with local farms in urban areas, which would help add a more dynamic food source for neighbourhoods. Natasha Suntewari Unlike most other courses at university, this CBEL initiative taught me about the concept of food security in a way that I could apply and understand in relation to the real world. I could analyze what the seniors food security situation was as I was surveying them, even if they were unaware of it themselves! This project also taught me skills I will continue to use in projects in the future, including how to design a survey and how to cite correctly. Moreover, I have learned how important good communication is within group work. Another component I appreciated in this course was the use of the LFS blogs, which not only kept other groups in the loop, but helped our group keep on track with each other. Lastly, throughout this course the e-lectures we were made to watch taught me a lot and really opened my eyes to a lot of things I was not previously aware of. It is because of LFS 350, I know watch TED talks on a regular basis and plan on continuing to do so. Leon Voorwalt Our work at the South Granville Seniors Center gave me the opportunity to frequently speak with the elderly, something that I have never done in the past. Up until now, I have never needed to hold a conversation with someone from the senior age group because I have never had an elderly family figure in my life. As such, it was easy, at first, to slip into prejudice: everything I knew about the elderly was based on movie stereotypes. Put simply, I was initially apprehensive of the seniors being stereotypically grumpy and disengaged. I think that after having been given the opportunity to speak with them regarding every-day topics such as grocery shopping, I have learned not to apprehensive based on stereotypical knowledge, and I have become much more comfortable in being able to speak with the elderly, which, all in all, I feel has helped me grow as a person. Stephanie Yoon Being a teacher candidate, I appreciated the CBEL component of this course because my teaching philosophy is that students retain the most education outside of classroom settings. Lectures and essays are limited in explanatory capabilitiesby experiencing things visually and kinetically, students are not only more interested, but are more likely to become passionate about the subject. The integration of social media resources such as Ted Talks and use of blogs also added a familiar touch catered to our technology dependent generation, which helped to reinforce topics covered in this course, such as food security, and keep track of the projects progress. However, the frustrating aspect about updating a weekly blog is that we are not given feedback for every entry, which would have been helpful for improving our blog. With the increasing prevalence of technology, blogging advice may have benefitted those who have never attempted blog-style writing.
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Tables and Images: Figure 1: Table showing how often survey participants shop for groceries per week. Results are from 19 surveys.

Figure 2: Table showing the different modes of transportation used by participants when grocery shopping.

Figure 3: Table showing the amount of time it takes for survey participants to travel to their primary grocery store.

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Figure 4: Visual map indicating main grocery stores coupled with main modes of transportation.

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Figure 5: Map indicating the community which this project focused on.

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Figure 6: Sample of final survey Hi there my name is ___________ and I am an undergraduate student at UBC. I am working on a community-based project for one of my courses, and we are gathering information on the availability and accessibility of healthy food in the South Granville neighbourhood. Our community partner for this project is the Kitsilano Neighbourhood House, and they are specifically interested in finding out how senior citizens living in this neighbourhood do their grocery shopping. We will be asking you a few questions about your grocery shopping habits, and the answers you provide us will help the Neighbourhood House in their efforts to bring positive change to the community.The data that we collect from these surveys will be presented to our class at UBC and to our community partner. Your identity will remain anonymous when our data is presented, meaning that when we present our findings your name wont be written or mentioned, nor will it be attached to your responses. Participating in this survey is entirely voluntary, and you can choose to withdraw from the survey at any time with no negative consequences. This survey will take approximately 10 minutes of your time. Do you agree to participate in this survey? No Ok, thank you for your time. Yes- Great, then lets get started. 1) Are you the primary shopper for your household? 2) How many people live in your household? 3) Where do you live? (Closest intersection) 4) How often do you shop for groceries? (e.g. 1X/week; 2X/month) 5) What 3 stores do you visit most often to shop for food? Answer 1 Answer 2 Answer 3 (If they mention a chain grocery store, ask for the location.) And how often do you visit (Answer 1)?
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(Answer 2)? (Answer 3)?

6) When you are traveling to a store to purchase food, what modes of transportation do you use? Answer 1 Answer 2 (If multiple answers) Ok, what percentage of the time would you say you end up walking to the store? Ah, ok, so you are ____ about __% of the time. 7) Which of these types of transportation have you been using most over the past month? (The ONE they use most.) 8) On average, how long does it take you to go from home to the grocery store you visit most often? 9) Do you feel that it is convenient for you to travel to a store that sells healthy and nutritious food? (such as fresh fruits and vegetables) 10) Do you feel that these healthy and nutritious food options are reasonably priced? 11) Are there any food items that you would like to purchase, but are not sold where you shop for groceries? 12) Thanks so much for your participation so far. As one final question, would you feel comfortable telling me your age so that we can better categorize the information we collect today? I appreciate the time that you have spent taking our survey today! Thanks!

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