Iowa Produce Prescription Program

The I-PPP intervention offers a produce prescription in the form of $30.00 per family member in a household every month to spend on fruit and vegetables. The dollars can be used at local retail partners, which are specific to each community. A mobile app has been developed for the I-PPP intervention participants. At the beginning of each month for six months, the app asks participants to complete a nutrition education module and a corresponding short quiz. After the participant completes the module, $30.00 per family member in the house will be loaded into the app for participants to use over the next month at local retail partners to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. Participants will have 30 days from the date of distribution to spend the funds before they expire.

The PYP Intervention is a six-month virtual behavioral intervention grounded in Self Determination Theory. The intervention aims to improve participants' competence, autonomy, and sense of relatedness through educational videos, recipes, and supplemental resources. Each monthly module contains several short videos, totaling around 15 minutes in length. The module topics include goal-setting, planning meals, preparing fruits and vegetables, reading nutrition labels, budgeting for healthier eating, and making healthier food swaps. The videos are tailored to represent a variety of cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds, with diverse actors and recipes. Upon completion of each monthly module, a short quiz is administered to participants to measure self-efficacy related to the topic and prompt goal-setting. To further increase social support, an optional Facebook Group component allows participants to post questions, share goals and recipes, and answer prompts from the research team.