2019 Success Story

University of Kentucky SNAP-Ed Mobile Technologies Research Project

The University of Kentucky social marketing project to improve dietary quality of SNAP-Ed eligible Kentuckians through mobile technologies is based on the Community Based Prevention Marketing approach. Formative research targeting SNAP participants and SNAP-Ed eligible Kentuckians will determine barriers and motivators to using mobile technology to improve meal planning, food purchasing and meal preparation. 

Previous research and literature reviews indicate that the majority of Kentucky’s SNAP-Ed audience has access to the internet through cell phones. This formative research effort is focused particularly on preferences, perceptions, motivators, and barriers to the use of mobile technologies to increase fruit and vegetable consumption, and about the specific technical capabilities of our audience in regards to mobile devices.

Six focus group session were conducted across the state in March 2019 to refine ongoing work aimed at discovering ways to use mobile technology to improve the dietary quality of limited resource Kentuckians. A total of 48 SNAP participants or SNAP-Ed eligible Kentuckians participated in the six focus groups held in Magoffin, Clinton, Campbell, Metcalfe, Pulaski, and Johnson counties.

Data from the focus groups will provide insight into the behaviors that are most likely to be positively impacted by the use of mobile technologies and inform content and development of social marketing efforts and future programming decisions.