Food and Nutrition Service's core nutrition education messages align with needs assessment of parents of preschoolers in Pennsylvania supplemental nutrition assistance program education

Introduction: How to best feed preschoolers to encourage lifelong healthful eating behaviors is a controversial topic among experts providing guidelines and funders delivering related mandates. Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) of the USDA released audience-tested core messages targeting low-income preschool caregivers. Actions promoted by these 7 messages were compared with findings from a nutrition education (NE) needs assessment of low-income parents of preschoolers participating in Pennsylvania Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (PA SNAP-Ed).

Methodology: Cognitive interviews with parents of 32 preschoolers (ages 2-6 years) were conducted by a trained interviewer to assess current feeding practices and determine feeding-related NE needs. Interview outcomes were critically surveyed by independent nutrition educators for content pertinent to the 7 FNS core messages; relevant findings were categorized into FNS groupings of role modeling, cooking and eating together, and division of feeding responsibility. Actions suggested by FNS core messages were compared to needs assessment conclusions to ascertain usefulness in PA SNAP-Ed.

Results: Needs assessment findings revealed inappropriate parent- centered feeding practices and problem avoidance strategies; Caregiver Feeding Styles Questionnaire results classified 34.4% of parents as having an Authoritarian feeding style and 40.6% of parents as having an Indulgent feeding style. Rationale for FNS message development mirrored the feeding-related NE needs of this sample.

Discussion: Our NE needs assessment of parents of preschoolers supported the need for functional partnerships among public, private, and governmental agencies charged with feeding preschoolers to promote the FNS core messages. Operationalizing core messages will require further study.