From the Office of Analysis and Evaluation, Food and Consumer Service

The Office of Analysis and Evaluation (OAE), Food and Consumer Service (FCS) has several new projects of interest to the nutrition community.

The Effectiveness of Nutrition Education and Implications for Nutria'on Education Policy, Programs, and Research: A Review of Research

A special issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education was published in December 1995. The journal synthesizes the research on nutrition education efforts targeted at preschoolers, school age children, adults, pregnant women and caregivers of infants, older adults, and the in-service preparation in nutrition education for professionals and paraprofessionals. Only studies with strong evaluation designs were reviewed to answer these key questions: Does nutrition education work? If so, what are the successful elements across interventions? What are the implications of the findings for nutrition education programs implementation, research, and policy? A detailed matrix of all studies reviewed was provided in the appendix. The studies provide evidence that well-designed, consumer-driven, behaviorally focused nutrition education can change behavior to promote good health. Copies of the issue are available from FCS, OAE, or the Journal of Nutrition Education.

Nutrition Education in Schools

The Nutrition Education in Schools study examined the status of nutrition education in U.S. public schools in order to help track current and future initiatives. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducted the study at the request of FCS. The survey requested information on the status of nutrition education in U.S. public schools, including: (1) topics covered; (2) how schools provide nutrition education in terms of instructional staff, curricula utilized, and integration of nutrition education into the curriculum and the school meals program; and (3) importance and priority of topics. With this information, the Food and Consumer Service can identify gaps that exist in nutrition education and determine where additional efforts might be needed.

Data were collected by means of a self-administered mail survey sent to 1,000 school principals in a nationally representative sample of U.S. public elementary, middle, and high schools. Data collection was completed with a final response rate of 93 percent. A final report is currently undergoing agency clearance.

Characteristics of Food Stamp Households: Summer 1994

Nutritionists who counsel lower income clients should find this report useful, for it provides summary information about the demographic and economic circumstances of food stamp households. On average, 27.3 million people living in 11.0 million households received food stamps in the United States each month in the summer of 1994. Over half of recipients were children and another 7 percent were age 60 or older. The average food stamp household contained 2.5 members.

Twenty-one percent of food stamp households had earnings and 38 percent received Aid for Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) benefits. Other cash assistance received by food stamp households included Supplemental Security Income (23 percent of households), Social Security (18 percent), and State General Assistance benefits (7 percent). Ten percent of households had no income of any kind.

Only 10 percent of food stamp households had incomes above the poverty line, whereas 41 percent were at or below half the poverty line. The typical food stamp household had a gross income of $514 per month and received a monthly benefit of $165. Nearly one-fourth of monthly available funds (cash income plus food stamps) for a typical household comes from food stamps.

Geographic Analysis of Retailer Access

The ability of food stamp participants to obtain a nutritious and healthful diet depends, in part, on their proximity to food stores that carry a full line of food and are authorized to accept food stamps. This report used geographic information systems software to calculate the distance (in terms of miles) between Food Stamp Program participants and stores likely to carry a full line of food (defined as supermarkets plus "large" groceries--those with over $500,000 in annual sales). The report measured distances in 9 sites drawn from over 40 sites used in a nationally representative sample of food stores authorized to participate in the Food Stamp Program. The sites in this report were not nationally representative but were chosen to represent a range of demographic and income characteristics. They included highly urban, small-city-plus-surrounding-rural, and sparsely populated areas.

In the highly urban sites (inner-city Baltimore; southeast Los Angeles; and Pasadena, CA), over 90 percent of food stamp households lived within a half mile of a supermarket or large grocery. In these highly urban areas, we also examined the presence of supermarket chains ranked in the top 200 nationally. The presence of nationally ranked chains varied from 1 in 4 large stores in Baltimore and Pasadena to 1 in 45 in southeast Los Angeles.

In the small cities studied (Charleston, WV; Las Cruces, NM; and Palmdale, CA), between 75 and 97 percent of food stamp households lived within 2 miles of a supermarket or large grocery. In the rural areas surrounding these small cities, between 34 and 74 percent of food stamp households lived within 2 miles of a supermarket or large grocery. Finally, in the sparsely populated areas (Boone County, WV; Dillon and Marion Counties, SC; and Otero and Lincoln Counties, NM), between 56 and 87 percent of food stamp households resided within 2 miles of a supermarket or large grocery. This was because most of the food stamp population lived in the small towns that contained the majority of such stores.

This report is one in a series of studies on food access. Future reports will explore the quality, variety, and price of food available in stores accessible to food stamp households.

Children's Food Assistance Geomapping Study

FCS awarded a contract to investigate the feasibility of using geomapping as a method of examining the delivery of FCS food assistance program benefits to children in rural areas. The objectives of this study are to: (1) identify and map the areas of the United States where children who are at or below 130 percent and 185 percent of poverty reside; (2) identify and resolve the practical problems associated with use of geomapping to examine food assistance program access to children; and (3) use geomapping to identify and examine variables that affect access of children to the following food assistance programs: (a) School Breakfast Program (SBP); (b) Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), including child care centers, outside-school-hours care centers, and family and group day care homes; (c) Summer Food Service Program (SFSP); and (d) Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

The application of geographic information systems (GIS) technology will be a significant component of this study. Locations of the relevant food assistance programs will be mapped and matched with census data on poverty, transportation, and other relevant variables in order to examine the delivery of benefits to children in rural areas. The project will provide the opportunity to assess the potential contribution that emerging GIS technology can provide in the administration of the programs included in this study. Issues related to using geomapping to examine FCS program access nationwide will also be examined. Findings will be available in mid-1997.

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