SNAP-Ed improved food security over a longitudinal time frame among low-income Indiana households with children in this study. SNAP-Ed may be a successful intervention to improve food security.

Abstract The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program–Education (SNAP-Ed) is the nutrition promotion component of SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. SNAP-Ed assists low-income populations in the United States improve dietary intake and reduce food insecurity through nutrition education. This narrative review summarizes current investigations of SNAP-Ed’s effectiveness at improving food security and dietary outcomes, and it can help inform future policy and implementation of the program. There was stronger evidence for SNAP-Ed as an effective means of improving food security (n = 4 reports) than for its effects on nutrition or dietary outcomes (n = 10 reports). Inconsistency in measurement tools and outcomes and a lack of strong study designs characterized the studies that sought to evaluate the effectiveness of SNAP-Ed at improving nutrition or dietary outcomes. Additional rigorous study designs in diverse population groups are needed to strengthen the evidence. In the face of reduced financial SNAP benefits, SNAP-Ed may play an important role in helping to eliminate food insecurity and improve dietary outcomes and, ultimately, the health of low-income Americans.

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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.

SNAP-Ed improves food security regardless of urban or rural location or the environmental factors investigated. Expansion of SNAP-Ed in rural areas may support food access among the low-income population and reduce the prevalence of food insecurity in rural compared with urban areas. Further investigation into policy, systems and environmental factors of the Social Ecological Model are warranted to better understand their relationship with direct SNAP-Ed and their impact on diet-related behaviours and food security.