Skip to main content
Skip to main content

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

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

  • by Loren Bell and Stacy Gleason
  • 1/8/2007
  • CCR-26

Overview

The effect of nutrition education—an important component of many Federal Food Assistance programs—on partici-pants’ 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 feasi-ble 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.

This study was conducted by Health Systems Research, Inc., under a cooperative research contract with USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) Food and Nutrition Assistance Research Program (FANRP): contract number 43-3AEM-1-80078 (ERS project representative: Elise Golan). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of ERS or USDA.

Download