Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education Intervention Research Articles

SNAP-Ed Programming for College Students Experiencing Food Insecurity: A Qualitative Process-Focused Evaluation

BackgroundGrowing recognition of food insecurity experienced by college students has led to efforts on college campuses to provide students with food assistance benefits and related nutrition education. A Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—Education (SNAP-Ed) program was developed for college students as one of these efforts. ObjectiveTo explore program content, recruitment, and implementation through experiences of program implementers in a novel SNAP-Ed intervention among college students. DesignThis qualitative study used focus groups and a case study approach to elicit program implementers’ experiences delivering SNAP-Ed to college students. Participants/settingStudents, staff, and faculty (n = 26) implementing SNAP-Ed with college students experiencing food insecurity across eight campuses in the California State University system participated in 8 focus groups in 2021–2022. Main outcome measuresA process evaluation framework was used to evaluate content fit and orientation; recruitment, retention, and reach; and structure and capacity for implementation. Analyses performedFocus groups were recorded, transcribed, and coded via thematic analysis using NVivo (QSR International, Burlington, MA). ResultsFive themes were identified: (1) need for this work to extend college-based basic needs services; (2) importance of aligning programming with college student context/needs; (3) common factors important for attracting/engaging the audience; (4) program barriers; and (5) training/team sharing for extending ideas. ConclusionsStudy findings suggest tailoring SNAP-Ed programming to the needs of college students experiencing food insecurity, such as integrating student-relevant cooking skills, recipes, and topics of interest. Additional intervention and research efforts may lead to a new model for serving college students with SNAP-Ed.

Latent class analysis identifies a promising combination of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education interventions for improving student cardiorespiratory fitness

ObjectiveTo inform Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) and other school-based interventions aiming to improve youth cardiorespiratory fitness, this study aimed to identify which SNAP-Ed school-based physical activity intervention combinations were associated with better student cardiorespiratory fitness. MethodsThis study, utilizing cross-sectional secondary data, included 5th and 7th grade students who attended SNAP-Ed-eligible public schools in California (n = 442,743 students; 4271 schools) and had complete 2016–17 state-mandated fitness test results. Latent class analysis was used to identify underlying school-based intervention combinations. Propensity score methods were used to ensure comparability of intervention and comparison schools, by calculating inverse probability weights. Multilevel models, using those inverse probability weights, assessed the associations between the identified intervention combinations and student cardiorespiratory fitness, as measured by VO2max. The models were adjusted for school-level variables (urbanicity, percent of students eligible for free- or reduced-price meals, total enrollment, and school type), child-level variables (age, gender, and race/ethnicity), and for clustering of students within schools. ResultsWe found that students attending schools with interventions focusing on comprehensive policy changes along with improving opportunities for physical activity had, on average, 1.17 mL/kg/min (95% CI: 0.72, 1.62) greater VO2max than students attending schools without any intervention. They also had statistically significantly greater VO2max compared to students attending schools with any other type of intervention combination. ConclusionOur results suggest that comprehensive school-based physical activity interventions that include policy changes along with improving physical activity opportunities may be the most effective approach for improving fitness and may warrant prioritization in SNAP-Ed efforts.

Use of Population Health Data and Qualitative Analysis to Guide Local Planning and Implementation of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education.

The purpose is to describe how local quantitative and qualitative data were used to assess the progress of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) interventions in Los Angeles County, California. Data from the California Health Interview Survey informed the geographical concentration of program resources during the planning phase. At the end of the program, semi-structured interviews with stakeholders were conducted to assess factors that facilitated SNAP-Ed implementation. Los Angeles County, California. Twenty-four project coordinators were interviewed. From 2016 to 2020, 24 organizations across Los Angeles County delivered nutrition education, reaching an estimated 2 million people. Two-hundred policy, systems, and environmental change interventions reached an estimated 1.2 million people. Semi-structured interview data were analyzed using a form of both inductive and deductive content analysis. A codebook was developed based on themes identified in these interviews. Each interview was coded by 2 team members; discrepancies (if they arose) were resolved by a 5-member group. Two facilitators-support for capacity building from a local health department and presence of community partnerships-were identified as critical factors that contributed to the success of SNAP-Ed implementation. A local health department can increase SNAP-Ed intervention reach and uptake by assisting funded partners with further capacity building, helping them to develop feasible work plans, foster evaluation skills, and engage in sustainability planning.

Latent Class Analysis Identifies a Promising Combination of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education Interventions for Improving Student Fitness

Latent Class Analysis Identifies a Promising Combination of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education Interventions for Improving Student Fitness

Food Security among Households with Children in Indiana Improved Following a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—Education Intervention

ObjectiveThe effects of a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program‐Education (SNAP‐Ed) intervention on the food security of households with children in Indiana were determined.MethodsA randomized, controlled, intervention study design using SNAP‐Ed as the intervention was implemented throughout Indiana from 8/2013 to 2/2014. Five hundred sixty SNAP‐Ed eligible participants 蠅18y were recruited and randomly allocated to receive 蠅4 SNAP‐Ed lessons or not during the 4 to 10 week study period, before and after which they also completed the 18‐item US Household Food Security Survey Module to assess food security status and a characteristics questionnaire. Analysis of covariance modeling, adjusted for participant and household characteristics, was used to determine changes in household food security status (p蠄0.05).ResultsThe mean household food security improvement from before compared with after the study period was greater in the intervention (‐1.0, s=3.3) compared with the control group (‐0.4, s=2.7) in simple (p=0.04) and adjusted models (β= ‐0.7, p=0.03).ConclusionThe SNAP‐Ed program is an effective intervention to improve food security in households with children in Indiana over a short‐term period.Funding This project was supported with a grant from the University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research through funding by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, contract number AG‐3198‐S‐12‐0044.

Reach of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) interventions and nutrition and physical activity-related outcomes, California, 2011-2012.

IntroductionThis study combined information on the interventions of the US Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program–Education with 5,927 interview responses from the California Health Interview Survey to investigate associations between levels of intervention reach in low-income census tracts in California and self-reported physical activity and consumption of fruits and vegetables, fast food, and sugar-sweetened beverages.MethodsWe determined 4 levels of intervention reach (low reach, moderate reach, high reach, and no intervention) across 1,273 program-eligible census tracts from data on actual and eligible number of intervention participants. The locations of California Health Interview Survey respondents were geocoded and linked with program data. Regression analyses included measures for sex, age, race/ethnicity, and education.ResultsAdults and children from high-reach census tracts reported eating more fruits and vegetables than adults and children from no-intervention census tracts. Adults from census tracts with low, moderate, or high levels of reach reported eating fast food less often than adults from no-intervention census tracts. Teenagers from low-reach census tracts reported more physical activity than teenagers in no-intervention census tracts.ConclusionThe greatest concentration of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program–Education interventions was associated with adults and children eating more fruits and vegetables and adults eating fast food less frequently. These findings demonstrate the potential impact of such interventions as implemented by numerous organizations with diverse populations; these interventions can play an important role in addressing the obesity epidemic in the United States. Limitations of this study include the absence of measures of exposure to the intervention at the individual level and low statistical power for the teenager sample.