Using Point-of-Purchase Data To Evaluate Local WIC Nutrition Education Interventions, Feasibility Study

Abstract

The effect of nutrition education—an important component of many Federal Food Assistance programs—on participants’ food consumption behavior is difficult to ascertain. This study finds that combining point-of-purchase data with State data on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a feasible method to assess behavioral changes in WIC participants. The major obstacle to using these data as a practical method of evaluating WIC participant food-purchasing behaviors is the recruitment of enough stores to allow for a representative sample of WIC participants to be included. The study found that nutrition education intervention directed at encouraging the purchase of 1-percent and skim milk, as well as low-fat cheese, did not significantly influence purchasing patterns among WIC participants.

Contractor: Health Systems Research