scholarly journals Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education Improves Food Security Independent of Food Assistance and Program Characteristics

Nutrients ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2636
Author(s):  
Heather A. Eicher-Miller ◽  
Rebecca L. Rivera ◽  
Hanxi Sun ◽  
Yumin Zhang ◽  
Melissa K. Maulding ◽  
...  

The purpose of this project was to determine whether consistent food assistance program participation or changes in participation over time mediated or moderated the effect of federal nutrition education through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) on food security and determine the associations of SNAP-Ed program delivery characteristics with change in food security. This secondary analysis used data from a randomized controlled trial from September 2013 through April 2015. SNAP-Ed-eligible participants (n = 328; ≥18 years) in households with children were recruited from 39 counties in Indiana, USA. The dependent variable was one year change in household food security score measured using the United States Household Food Security Survey Module. Assessment of mediation used Barron-Kenny analysis and moderation used interactions of food assistance program use and changes over time with treatment group in general linear regression modeling. Program delivery characteristics were investigated using mixed linear regression modeling. Results showed that neither consistent participation nor changes in food assistance program participation over time mediated nor moderated the effect of SNAP-Ed on food security and neither were SNAP-Ed program delivery characteristics associated with change in food security over the one year study period. SNAP-Ed directly improved food security among SNAP-Ed-eligible Indiana households with children regardless of food assistance program participation and changes over time or varying program delivery characteristics.

Nutrients ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shinyoung Jun ◽  
Alexandra Cowan ◽  
Janet Tooze ◽  
Jaime Gahche ◽  
Johanna Dwyer ◽  
...  

This analysis characterizes use of dietary supplements (DS) and motivations for DS use among U.S. children (≤18 years) by family income level, food security status, and federal nutrition assistance program participation using the 2011–2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data. About one-third (32%) of children used DS, mostly multivitamin-minerals (MVM; 24%). DS and MVM use were associated with higher family income and higher household food security level. DS use was lowest among children in households participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP; 20%) and those participating in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC; 26%) compared to both income-eligible and income-ineligible nonparticipants. Most children who used DS took only one (83%) or two (12%) products; although children in low-income families took fewer products than those in higher income families. The most common motivations for DS and MVM use were to “improve (42% or 46%)” or “maintain (34 or 38%)” health, followed by “to supplement the diet (23 or 24%)” for DS or MVM, respectively. High-income children were more likely to use DS and MVM “to supplement the diet” than middle- or low-income children. Only 18% of child DS users took DS based on a health practitioner’s recommendation. In conclusion, DS use was lower among children who were in low-income or food-insecure families, or families participating in nutrition assistance programs.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth Osborne Daponte

AbstractThe United States has a food assistance structure that, by design, does not assure that households receiving food assistance will be food secure, is deeply inefficient, and is at financial and structural risk. The two most common forms of food assistance used today are Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program) and charitable food assistance in the form of groceries (provided through a network of food banks, food pantries, and other related programs). Approximately 43 million persons participate in SNAP and nearly one-third of them also rely on a food pantry for groceries. The use of charitable food assistance by persons relying on SNAP demonstrates that SNAP’s benefit level and structure does not sufficiently result in food security. The article argues that reinstating a purchase requirement for SNAP and increasing the level of benefits provided to SNAP participants would increase the food security of participants, alleviate the chronic demand for food from food banks and food pantries, and ultimately allow the charitable food assistance network to better accomplish its goal of providing emergency food assistance to the needy.


2022 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mona Pourghaderi ◽  
Nasrin Omidvar ◽  
Amirhossein Takian ◽  
Arlette Saint Ville ◽  
Hannaneh Mohammadi Kangarani ◽  
...  

Abstract: Multi-stakeholder processes - as a necessary part in the development of public policies - can provide diverse perspectives to inform and to improve food security policy-making. Iran’s National Food Assistance Program (NFAP) is one of the major welfare programs in Iran that reduces food insecutiry to low-income households. This study aimed to identify and to categorize actual and potential stakeholders in NFAP using the stakeholder salience model. According to Mitchell’s theory, stakeholders’ attributes (power, legitimacy, and urgency) were assessed based on the nature of their interactions, roles, and level of engagement. Results revealed a number of significant but marginalized stakeholders, including Iranian Ministry of Health (office of community nutrition improvement), academia, center for food and nutrition research, target group, charities, and international organizations, who have not received any targeted organizational attention and priority to their claims. The unbalanced attention provided to some stakeholder groups characterized as “definitive” and “dominant” and ignoring some important ones will jeopardize long-term viability and undermine support for the program with inevitable declines in legitimacy. Understanding the change in the stakeholders’ characteristics is the main variable to determine the allocation of organizational resources in response to different and rising stakeholders’ demands and possibly the projects outcomes. This will facilitate and enhance the possibility of knowledge exchange and learning, and greater trust among stakeholders during the food and nutrition policy-making process.


Author(s):  
Craig Gundersen

Food insecurity is a leading public-health challenge in the United States today. This is primarily due to the magnitude of the problem—about 50 million persons are food insecure—and the serious negative health and other outcomes associated with being food insecure. This chapter first defines the measure used to delineate whether a household is food insecure. The measure, the Core Food Security Module (CFSM), is based on 18 questions about a household’s food situation. From the responses, a household is defined as food secure, low food secure, or very low food secure, with the latter two categories defined as “food insecure.” I next discuss the extent of food insecurity in the United States across various dimensions, the key determinants of food insecurity, and the multiple negative consequences associated with food insecurity. Two of the key policy tools used to address food insecurity are the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) and the National School Lunch Program. A brief overview and definition of the eligibility criteria for each program is provided along with a discussion of their respective impacts on food insecurity. This chapter concludes with four major current challenges pertaining to food insecurity and food assistance programs.


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