The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) is an evidence-based, federally funded education program to support participants eligible for receiving SNAP food benefits. SNAP-Ed initiatives include nutrition education classes, social marketing campaigns, and efforts to improve policies, systems, and the environment of communities; the program is known as CalFresh Healthy Living in California. The COVID-19 pandemic produced unprecedented challenges for SNAP-Ed implementation in California. Nutrition Policy Institute researchers from the CalFresh Healthy Living Evaluation team–Gail Woodward Lopez, Janice Kao, and Christina Becker–presented at the Association of SNAP Nutrition Education Administrators virtual conference on Feb. 10, 2022 a talk titled “Where do we go from here? COVID-19 impacts on local health department SNAP-Ed programming, priority populations and equity in California”. The talk was part of a panel moderated by NPI researcher Sridharshi Hewawitharana. Researchers presented results of a web-based survey of 1064 majority Black, Indigenous, and people of color SNAP-Ed eligible parents across California and results from online reporting from local health departments that implement SNAP-Ed at over 500 sites. Results showed dramatic changes in food and physical activity acquisition and SNAP-Ed programming, reductions in physical activity, mixed impacts on dietary intake, and a high prevalence of perceived weight gain.
The University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, is a statewide program with local development and delivery. The Division's Nutrition Policy Institute is a research and policy institute that evaluates the impact of programs and policies on nutrition, physical activity, and public health outcomes. The Research Data Analyst 3 works on multiple extramural funded research projects in collaboration with multiple research staff, with supervision from Principal Investigators and input from senior statisticians and data analysts as needed. This position will focus on working on evaluation studies conducted by NPI through its CalFresh Healthy Living contract with the California Department of Public Health. While this position normally is based in Oakland, CA, this position is eligible for hybrid flexible work arrangements for applicants living in the State of California, at this time. Hybrid flexible work arrangements are subject to change by the University. This job posting will close on March 11, 2022.
- Author: Danielle L. Lee
- Contributor: Gail Woodward-Lopez
A new study from University of California researchers suggests that most fast food restaurants in low-income neighborhoods in California are not offering beverages online in a way that is consistent with the state's healthy beverage law for children's meals sold on the restaurant's website and popular online ordering platforms like DoorDash, GrubHub, and UberEats. California's Healthy-By-Default Beverage law requires restaurants to offer only plain or sparkling water with no added sweeteners, unflavored milk or unflavored non-dairy milk as the default beverage in children's meals. The law also requires that menus, menu boards and advertisements for children's meals include only approved default options. Researchers found that less than six percent of the observations they made on the online ordering platforms of 245 fast food restaurants across low-income California neighborhoods were offering children's meal beverages that were consistent with the Healthy-By-Default Beverage law in its most restrictive interpretation. This is cause for concern as online ordering platforms are gaining popularity. The study was published online in the journal Public Health Nutrition by Nutrition Policy Institute researchers Hannah Thompson, Anna Martin, Ron Strochlic, Sonali Singh, and Gail Woodward Lopez as part of the NPI CalFresh Healthy Living evaluation.
Schools are an ideal setting for policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) approaches to childhood obesity prevention. An initial assessment of a school's health environment, policies, and practices is critical for planning and identifying priority PSE interventions, while reassessment can be used to identify measurable change for ongoing planning and evaluation purposes. School-based obesity prevention programs need an assessment that measures wellness policy implementation and compliance at the school level, as required by the Local School Wellness Policy Implementation Final Rule of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. The assessment must comprehensively assesses school nutrition and physical activity practices, and have the measurement properties necessary to detect change over time and differences between schools. Nutrition Policy Institute researchers shared the development and psychometric testing of a site-level questionnaire for elementary schools that fills this gap in an article published December 20, 2021 in the journal Childhood Obesity. Elementary schools and their partners can use the new instrument to plan PSE interventions, measure obesity-prevention best practices and wellness policy implementation, and evaluate their progress towards achieving best practices in nutrition and physical activity. Study authors include researchers from the NPI CalFresh Healthy Living evaluation team, Carolyn Rider, Janice Kao, Sridharshi Hewawitharana, Christina Becker, Amanda Linares, and Gail Woodward-Lopez.
New research from the University of California Nutrition Policy Institute suggests that a Harvest of the Month curriculum promoting fruit and vegetable intake, healthy beverage choices, physical activity, and the importance of local agriculture in school-aged children can improve school children's fruit and vegetable intake. Each lesson includes grade-appropriate math and English Language Arts activities addressing the California Common Core Standards. Researchers at NPI collaborated with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and Alameda County Office of Education (ACOE) to evaluate an HOTM curriculum taught once per week for six weeks to over 140 fourth- through sixth-grade students in three schools. Students in the three schools receiving the HOTM curriculum showed greater increases in total fruit and vegetable intake, fruit intake, and 100% juice consumption, and preference for several types of fruits and vegetables compared to 210 students in one school that did not receive the curriculum. Focus group findings suggest students, parents and teachers were highly satisfied with the HOTM curriculum. These findings meet the USDA criteria for programs funded by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education, and schools are encouraged to coordinate with local and state agencies administering SNAP-Ed to integrate HOTM curriculum to expand their nutrition education and promotion efforts. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, adaptations for online curriculum delivery and the adoption of appropriate safety measures for taste-testing when in-person delivery occurs may be needed. The study, funded by the California Department of Public Health, was published in the Journal of School Health in August 2021. Authors include Ron Strochlic, Gail Woodward-Lopez, and Sridharshi Hewawitharana from NPI, Katharina Streng, Jackie Richardson, and Lauren Whetstone from CDPH, and Derek Gorshow from ACOE.