Oral

A number of efforts have been underway for improving diets, promoting a healthy weight, and reducing nutrition disparities across populations. Though most of these initiatives share the same goal, numerous factors can influence the types of programs, policies, and other change strategies that are introduced and implemented, as well as their effectiveness. This session will examine several nutrition interventions from an evaluation perspective. Presenters will discuss best practices and lessons learned from previous research and from multi-site interventions around what makes an effective program and/or policy change and what drives the selection of a particular policy approach or intervention. Results from best practices research around elimination of nutrition disparities as well as development of tools for increasing evaluation capacity among grantees will also be discussed.

Session Objectives: 1. Discuss evidence based strategies for improving the diet, food security and weight of health disparate populations; 2. Identify barriers to successful policy development and program implementation; 3. Demonstrate how policy model constructs and evaluation tools can improve evaluation capacity and rigor in evaluation design.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH) , Masters Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES)