The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP‐Ed) Elementary School Students had Self‐Reported and Observed Behavior Changes

Abstract

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP‐Ed) provides multi‐level obesity prevention interventions in the school setting. The SNAP‐Ed goals for Arizona are to ensure that SNAP‐eligible youth: 1) meet the dietary recommendations for fruit and vegetable consumption, 2) meet dietary recommendations for calcium from low‐fat or fat‐free diary, 3) make half of grains consumed whole grains, and 4) engage in the recommended amount of physical activity (PA) per a day (60 minutes). Interventions in schools may include: nutrition and PA education, taste testing of fruits and vegetables, Local Wellness Policy development, implementation, and revision support. These interventions aim to change student nutrition and PA behaviors. A youth and a teacher survey were used to support interpretation of behavior changes and strengthen the quality of findings.A randomized cohort of students in 4th and 5th grade school classrooms were recruited to participate in youth surveys that assessed nutrition and PA behavior. The youth surveys were administered in the Fall and Spring of 2014–2015. Youth surveys were matched to the students; 536 students took the pre‐survey and 543 took the post survey. Unmatched surveys were excluded for a sample size of 382. Paired t‐tests were used for continuous variables, and the McNemar test was applied to binary data. A multiple choice questionnaire was also given to the 4th and 5th grade teachers in the Spring (N=12), post‐intervention, to assess the teachers’ observations of students’ behaviors. Descriptive statistics were reported for items related to teacher observations of students’ behaviors. Teachers that participated in the teacher questionnaire may or may not have received a SNAP‐Ed intervention in their classroom, during the 2014–15 school year.The youth survey analysis found a significant increase in whole grain consumption (17%, p<0.05) and total PA minutes per day (11% p<0.05). The teacher questionnaire analysis showed that 42% of teachers observed an increase in students’ whole grain consumption and 67% observed students being more physically active.The low sample size for the teacher questionnaire and the unmatched teachers with classrooms were limitations to interpreting the results; however, teacher observations identified trends related to the significant findings of the youth survey. The surveys given to the students and teachers both supported the finding of increased consumption of whole grains and PA among youth in SNAP‐Ed participating schools. Using multiple surveys to assess perceived and observed behavior changes, can strengthen the interpretation of the results and identify trends.