A Preliminary Comparison of High School Nutrition Curricula Used in the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program

Abstract

Abstract Objectives To determine which curricula are being used with high schoolers participating in the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) and their impacts. Methods EFNEP Coordinators from each program were asked if their program targeted high schoolers, and if so, which curricula they were using. Fiscal year 2018 EFNEP national high school survey data were then aggregated by program from those that exclusively used 1 of the 3 most popular curricula and analyzed using SAS 9.4. Results Of the 63 EFNEP programs (N = 75) that responded, 29 programs (46%) did not, or rarely, worked with high schoolers. Of those that did work with these teens (n = 34), 19 (56%) reported exclusively using 1 of 3 curricula: Eating Smart • Being Active (ESBA, n = 8); Families Eating Smart, Moving More (FESMM, n = 3); or Teen Cuisine (TC, n = 8). Notably, 2 of these curricula (ESBA and FESMM) were created for use with adults. Evaluation data was analyzed for 2098 participants in 9th-12th grade (ESBA n = 1232, FESMM n = 236, and TC n = 630). Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests showed significant improvements in 13 nutrition, physical activity, and food safety behaviors for ESBA and TC pre-to-posttest, and improvements in 7 of those behaviors for FESMM (all P < 0.05). Chi-square analysis revealed that ESBA participants were more likely than FESMM participants to increase fruit (P < 0.01), vegetable (P < 0.001), and low-fat milk (P < 0.01) consumption, decrease sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption (P < 0.001) and screen time (P < 0.01), and make healthier choices at restaurants (P < 0.01), while TC participants were more likely than FESMM participants to increase vegetable consumption (P < 0.001), decrease SSB consumption (P < 0.01) and screen time (P < 0.001), and make healthier choices at restaurants (P < 0.01). When comparing ESBA and TC, ESBA was more likely to have participants decrease screen time (P = 0.03), with no other significant differences. Conclusions There is a dearth of evidence-based high school nutrition education curricula for use with low-income teens. TC and ESBA both show promise for this purpose; however, since these curricula require 1 + hours for implementation, additional curricula that can be used with shorter classes may need to be developed and evaluated. Also, additional testing is needed using more robust evaluation tools. Funding Sources None.