Reliability of the Indiana Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) Program Evaluation Survey (P04-074-19)

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ObjectivesSupplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) is a national program that delivers nutrition education to low-income households to improve nutrition-related behaviors. A pre-post survey, or Medium Term Survey (MTS), is used to determine participant behavior change as a result of the program. The objective of the present study was to determine the short-term (4–10 weeks) and long-term (1 year) reliability of the Indiana SNAP-Ed MTS. MethodsData for this secondary analysis was from a randomized controlled trial evaluation of Indiana SNAP-Ed. SNAP-Ed-eligible adults (≥18 yrs) living in Indiana and interested in receiving nutrition education were recruited from 2015–2016 (N = 261). Short-term and long-term test-retest reliability of the 17 pre- and post-test items on the Indiana SNAP-Ed MTS were determined using Spearman correlations. MTS pre-test results from the control group who did not receive SNAP-Ed were compared with post-test results collected 4–10 weeks (short-term) later and 1 year (long-term) later, respectively. Analyses were completed using SAS 9.4. Significance was P ≤ 0.05. ResultsThe Indiana SNAP-Ed MTS demonstrated poor test-retest reliability with correlation coefficients of 0.4 to 0.6 for 15 items over the short-term (P < 0.05) and correlation coefficients of 0.3 to 0.7 for 11 items over the long-term study period (P < 0.05) among Indiana SNAP-Ed-eligible adults who did not receive the SNAP-Ed intervention (n = 62). ConclusionsAmong Indiana SNAP-Ed-eligible adults, the Indiana SNAP-Ed MTS is not a reliable survey instrument to assess nutrition-related behaviors over a short-term or long-term time period. Further research is needed to develop reliable survey items to conduct program evaluation. Funding SourcesThis activity was funded by the Purdue Office of Undergraduate Research Scholarship, the Purdue Nutrition Education Program, and a USDA NIFA Hatch Project.