Texas SNAP-Ed Evaluation

SNAP-Ed, or SNAP Education, is a federal nutrition education and obesity prevention initiative targeting low income households in the US. Overseen by the USDA, and implemented at the state level, SNAP-Ed is an adjunct to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the largest federal nutritional assistance program in the US. SNAP-Ed is central to USDA’s efforts to improve nutrition, prevent or reduce diet-related disease and obesity, and assist SNAP-Ed eligible households to make healthy diet and physical activity choices within a limited budget. Within states, SNAP-Ed programs are administered by Implementing Agencies that offer nutrition education and obesity prevention services to low-income communities and SNAP-eligible families.

Evaluation of SNAP-Ed programming to ensure that projects are effective is a key priority for the USDA. To this end, the USDA/ FNS has developed a SNAP-Ed Evaluation Framework, to facilitate standardized evaluation and reporting of outcomes. The evaluation framework facilitates the use of standardized, evidence-informed methods to share with clients, partner organizations, stakeholders, and policy makers.

Objectives

The overall objective of the Texas SNAP-Ed Evaluation project is to conduct an evaluation of the implementation and utilization of SNAP-Ed in the State of Texas, in accordance with the SNAP-Ed evaluation framework. The state of Texas has funded 7 agencies as of April 3, 2018 that are charged with implementing educational programming for the SNAP-Ed eligible population. This evaluation seeks to determine if the Texas SNAP-Ed plan and initiatives result in changes to proposed short term (readiness and capacity) and medium term (behavioral and policy/systems/environmental) outcomes.

Research Details  

Multiple methods will be used during the evaluation process, including:

• A literature review to identify barriers and facilitators to program success in other SNAP-Ed implementations
• A logic model and evaluation plan to guide initial assessment and work flow
• A needs assessment by reviewing existing data collected by HHSC in the Texas SNAP Education State Plan, as well as the work and evaluation plans for the current SNAP-Ed initiatives in Texas,
• A detailed set of interviews with key organizational and program personnel at the implementing agencies to identify themes in their experiences for current SNAP-Ed initiatives as well as partnership and organizational capacity
• A primary data collection from 800 SNAP-Ed eligible individuals, to be conducted 3 times during the project period, to evaluate program and behavioral outcomes.

People

• Nalini Ranjit - Principal Investigator
• Deanna Hoelscher – CoPrincipal Investigator
• Gretchen Gemeinhardt – Co Investigator
• Alexandra van den Berg – Co Investigator
• Anna Wilkinson – Co Investigator
• Carolyn Smith – Project Director
• Alejandra Gonzalez – Assistant Project Director 
• Claire Niday – Research Assistant
• Sarah Bentley – Research Assistant
• Sarah Macias – Research Assistant
• Amanda Reat – Graduate Assistant
• Jordan Williams – Graduate Assistant

 

Contact our Team

[email protected]
866-346-6163

Sarah Bentley, MPH

Alexandra (Sandra) van den Berg, MPH, PhD

Principal Investigator, GAVA Evaluation Study; Co-Investigator, Texas SNAP-Ed Evaluation

Alejandra Gonzalez

Assistant Project Director, Texas SNAP-Ed Evaluation

Deanna Hoelscher, PhD, RDN, LD, CNS, FISBNPA

Sarah Martinez, MPH

Research Assistant, Texas SNAP-Ed Evaluation

Nalini Ranjit, PhD

Principal Investigator, Texas SNAP-Ed Evaluation; Co-Principal Investigator, GAVA Evaluation Study

Carolyn Smith

Project Director, Texas SNAP-Ed Evaluation; School Physical Activity and Nutrition (SPAN) Project Director; Texas Grow! Eat! Go! (TGEG)/Project Director; Texas Childhood Obesity Prevention Policy Evaluation (T-COPPE)/Project Coordinator

Anna Wilkinson, PhD

Co-Investigator, Texas SNAP-Ed Evaluation