P116 Using Facebook to Promote Healthy Eating Behaviors Among Low-income American Caregivers of Young Children

Abstract

<h3>Background</h3> The impact of nutrition education-related Facebook pages on the food-related behaviors of low-income caregivers of young children is unknown. Given the popularity of Facebook and the restricted opportunities for off-line activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, assessment of this question could generate important results to shape future interventions. <h3>Objective</h3> To evaluate the impact of the Cooking Matters (CM) Facebook page on healthy eating behaviors among low-income caregivers of young children. <h3>Study Design, Setting, Participants</h3> A pre-post survey of new CM Facebook followers in early 2020 was used. A convenience sample was recruited from low-income app users and the CM Facebook page. The baseline survey included 397 low-income caregivers of a child younger than 5 who never followed CM Facebook; 184 of them completed the follow-up survey. <h3>Measurable Outcome/Analysis</h3> Paired <i>t</i> test and McNemar-Bowker tests were conducted to compare the outcomes before and after following CM Facebook. A binary indicator was developed to measure whether the outcomes were improved (1 = Improved; 0 = Not improved). Multi-variate logistic regressions were applied to examine the relationship between whether the outcome was improved with reference to the baseline socio-demographics. <h3>Results</h3> New followers had active exposure to CM Facebook content. About 75% of new followers viewed the CM page at least a few times a week. Additionally, 28.7% of followers commented on CM posts and 48.5% of followers watched CM videos. Approximately 60% of respondents rated CM as having impacted them "somewhat" or "a great deal." Single-parent families were more likely to achieve improvement in attitude toward cooking and younger age caregivers were more likely to achieve improvement in preparing healthy meals with the time available (<i>P</i> < 0.05). <h3>Conclusion</h3> The CM Facebook page could be an important platform to improve the attitudes or healthy eating behaviors among certain low-income caregivers of young children.