CalFresh Healthy Living Evaluation | CA Department of Public Health
The Nutrition Policy Institute works in partnership with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and local health departments (LHDs) to evaluate CDPH’s CalFresh Healthy Living program (as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education Program (SNAP-Ed) is called in California).
NPI’s CDPH-CalFresh Healthy Living Evaluation Projects
Program Evaluation and Reporting System (PEARS) for monitoring and evaluation
NPI provides support to local health departments in their use of the Program Evaluation and Reporting System (PEARS). PEARS data is used by NPI (as well as LHDs and CDPH) for reporting purposes and to inform various process, outcome and impact evaluations.
Site Level Assessment Questionnaires (SLAQs)
Site-Level Assessment Questionnaires (SLAQs) were developed in 2018-2019 by the Nutrition Policy Institute for use by CDPH-CalFresh Healthy Living programs. SLAQs are designed to provide comprehensive annual site assessment data for program planning and evaluation in four settings: schools, out-of-school, early care and education, and small retail.
Impact Outcome Evaluation (IOE)
Local Health Departments receiving at least $400,000 in annual funding are required to complete impact evaluation of their school-based CalFresh Healthy Living interventions using the Eating and Activity Tool for Students (EATS) and SLAQs.
Strategy Evaluation
Strategy evaluations serve to assess the effectiveness of promising approaches, identify areas of need for CalFresh Healthy Living programming, and inform programming to better serve priority populations. Current evaluations focus on healthy default beverages with kid's meals, school meal access in light of COVID-19 closures, and retail food store assessments in SNAP-Ed eligible communities. Past evaluations looked at physical activity programming in community parks and evaluated the effectiveness of CDPH-developed curricula.
Publications and Products
Below is a list of publications and products from NPI's CalFresh Healthy Living evaluation activities.
2020
Rider C, Linares A, Kao J, Becker C, Woodward-Lopez G. Assessing Healthful Eating and Physical Activity Practices in Places Children Learn. Journal of Extension, 17 December 2020.
Strochlic R, Woodward-Lopez G, Hewawitharana S, Streng K, Richardson J, Whetstone L, Gorshow D. (in press) A Harvest of the Month Curriculum Increases Fruit and Vegetable Intake Among 4th-6th Grade Students. Journal of School Health.
[In press]
Hewawitharana S, Kao J, Rider C, Talmage E, Costello S Webb K, Gosliner W, Woodward-Lopez, G. (in press) Method for scoring dose of multicomponent interventions: a building block for future evaluations. American Journal of Evaluation.
[In press]
Thompson HR, Hewawitharana SC, Kao J, Rider C, Talmage E, Gosliner W, Whetston L, Woodward-Lopez G. SNAP-Ed physical activity interventions in low-income schools are associated with greater cardiovascular fitness among 5th and 7th grade students in California. Preventive Medicine Reports, Volume 20, December 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2020.101222
Harpainter P, Hewawitharana SC, Lee DL, Martin AC, Gosliner W, Ritchie LD, Woodward-Lopez G. Voluntary Kids' Meal Beverage Standards: Are They Sufficient to Ensure Healthier Restaurant Practices and Consumer Choice? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 22 July 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17155275
Tsai M, Harpainter P, Martin A, Woodward-Lopez G, Lee D, Ritchie L. Healthy Default Beverages in Kids’ Meals: Evaluating Policy Adherence and Impact in California. Current Developments in Nutrition, Volume 4, Issue Supplement 2, 29 May 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzaa051_027
[Abstract]
Gosliner W, Shah H. Participant voices: examining issue, program and policy priorities of SNAP-Ed eligible adults in California. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 24 June 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742170519000243
2019
Blondin K, Crawford P, Orta-Aleman D, Randel-Schreiber H, Strochlic R, Webb K, Woodward-Lopez G. School-based interventions for promoting nutrition and physical activity & preventing obesity: overview of studies and findings. Nutrition Policy Institute. November 2019.
Evaluation Brief: Evaluation Brief for Local Health Departments, Healthy Default Beverages in Kid's Meals. Nutrition Policy Institute. October 2019.
Evaluation Brief: Increasing Local Park Use Requires Infrastructure Improvement and Sustainable Programming. Nutrition Policy Institute. 18 September 2019.
Gosliner W, Shah H. Participant voices: examining issue, program and policy priorities of SNAP-Ed eligible adults in California. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 24 June 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742170519000243
Shah HD, Adler J, Ottoson J, Webb K, Gosliner W. Leaders' Experiences in Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating Complex Public Health Nutrition Interventions. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Volume 51, Issue 5, May 2019, Pages 528-538. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2019.02.005
[Abstract]
Gerstein DE, Plank K, Woodward Lopez G, Crawford P. Active Parks, Healthy People Pilot Program, Evaluation Report. Nutrition Policy Institute. May 2019.
Blondin K, Orta-Aleman D, Woodward-Lopez G. Early Care and Education (ECE) Interventions for Promoting Nutrition and Physical Activity and Preventing Obesity. Nutrition Policy Institute. March 2019.
2018
Strochlic R, Plank K, Hewawitharana S, Hernandez M, Richardson J, Crawford P. Evaluation of the Rethink Your Drink 9th-12th Grade Curriculum, 2017. Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Research and Evaluation Unit, Nutrition Policy Institute, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Prepared for the California Department of Health, Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Branch. July 2018. This material was funded by USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This project was supported by funds received from the State of California, Department of Public Health.
Gosliner W, Brown DM, Sun BC, Woodward-Lopez G, Crawford PB. Availability, quality and price of produce in low-income neighbourhood food stores in California raise equity issues. Public Health Nutrition, published online 15 March 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980018000058.
[Abstract]
Strochlic R, Hewawitharana S, Streng K, Richardson J, Gorshow D, Crawford P. Evaluation of the Harvest of the Month 4-6 Grade Curriculum, 2017. Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Research and Evaluation Unit, Nutrition Policy Institute, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Prepared for the California Department of Health, Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Branch. February 2018. This material was funded by USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This project was supported by funds received from the State of California, Department of Public Health.
2016
Review of the Evidence: Health Promotion Strategies for Retail Food Shopping Venues. UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Nutrition Policy Institute, 2016.