Background: Tailored, personally relevant messages increase message effectiveness (Melnyk, Panza, Zaleski, & Taylor, 2015). Two phases of formative research were conducted to inform the development of a health communications campaign that aims to improve nutrition and increase water consumption among SNAP-Ed eligible Californians. Research objectives focused on evaluating patterns of personal values, identifying barriers to healthy behaviors, and measuring receptivity to tailored campaign materials.

Methods: The formative research consisted of interviews (n=46), 8 focus groups (n=74), and a statewide survey (n=1,504). Concept testing research consisted of 10 focus groups (n=96).

Results: Low-income Californians encountered varied obstacles to healthy behaviors (e.g., family preferences, convenience, cost, access). Barriers to healthy behaviors were associated with unique clusters of personal values. For example, those who prioritized personal goals feared that healthy recipes would take too long to prepare, taking time away from their goals, while those who valued stability feared food waste if fresh produce was not eaten quickly enough. Phase 1 findings informed development of values-based campaign materials, which were tested in Phase 2. Critical personal values were tied to the desired health behaviors. For example, for those who valued caring for others, making healthy choices was positioned as a way of showing love for their families.

Conclusions: Values-based messaging can be an effective health communication approach that connects pre-existing values of the audience with the desired health behavior. Tailoring messages based on key values makes the message feel more organic, thus increasing message relevance and effectiveness.

Introduction:
The large USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) uses social marketing as a population-wide strategy to promote healthy eating and physical activity among low-income communities. The 2018 Profile of SNAP-Ed Social Marketing Campaigns (SMCs) is the most comprehensive nationwide attempt to describe the scale, scope, and impact of these campaigns.
Methods:
In September 2018, every SNAP-Ed implementing agency (SIA) (N=123, 87% response rate) received notice of an online survey. Follow-up calls and emails were made for survey reminders and to cross-check survey data. Primary objectives included collecting planned outcomes, target audiences, promotional techniques, partners, and evaluation methods in 2018.
Results:
Nationally, 59 SMCs were reported within 33 states/territories; 11 states reported having ≥1 SMCs; and 18 states planned totally new SMCs. Overall, SMCs aimed to increase fruit and vegetable consumption (74%), targeted parents and caretakers (77%), and connected with community supports (77%). Mass communications included: digital social media (93%), print media (77%), websites (72%), outdoor (41%), TV (28%), and transit (23%) as promotional media. SIAs partnered with non-profit organizations (52%), schools (31%), and media outlets (31%) to plan, deliver and/or evaluate their SMCs. Media impressions were the most common evaluation metric (59%), along with key informant interviews with partners (30%), and focus groups and intercept surveys with target audiences (23%).
Discussion:
Ways in which this Profile will assist public health practitioners to plan, refine, implement, sustain, and evaluate SMCs will be discussed. More in-depth analysis and methods creating mentor-mentee groups will be presented.

Introduction –SNAP-Ed programs aim to influence policies, systems, and environments (PSEs). The implementation of PSE programming can be challenging, as it is influenced by sociocultural attributes and readiness for change, which vary by context. Effective evaluation of PSE impacts also remains elusive. In school settings, teachers have numerous impacts across several sectors of influence, at multiple levels of the socioecological model. Maryland SNAP-Ed’s approach strategically utilizes the complex role of the teacher to broaden their influence beyond classroom-based nutrition education to creating a healthy school environment that increases the reach and impact of their work.

Approach – Recognizing teachers’ multiple roles, Maryland SNAP-Ed trains and empowers nutrition educators to facilitate teachers’ abilities to role model healthy choices, make classroom-level policy changes, and effectively advocate for policy-level changes at their school. SNAP-Ed utilizes teacher trainings, collaborative conversations with teachers, individualized technical assistance, worksite wellness programs, and wellness councils to assist teachers in becoming change agents at each level of their cross-sectoral areas of influence.

Results – Through a multimodal approach, Maryland SNAP-Ed estimates the individual, interpersonal, and environmental-level impacts of teachers in collaborating schools. Diverse methods, including participant surveys, teacher self-reports, qualitative data, and school reports, are synthesized to highlight teachers’ influence on youth’s health outcomes, and on PSEs across various levels.

Discussion – Maryland SNAP-Ed’s approach addresses a central challenge in programming for PSE impacts by employing a series of targeted, strategic interventions that recognize teachers’ capacity to influence PSEs at multiple levels.

Introduction

SNAP-Ed seeks to improve dietary and physical activity behaviors through policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) changes, education, and promotional activities in low-income community settings including schools. In order to inform future efforts and ensure the effectiveness of this multi-million dollar program in California, this study was conducted to identify the relative effectiveness of the different school-based SNAP-Ed interventions conducted by local health departments (LHDs) in California in relation to youth dietary and physical activity outcomes.

Methods

Scores combining the intensity and reach of PSEs, education, and promotional activities were calculated to quantify total and subcategories of school-level SNAP-Ed efforts. Data on representative, cross-sectional samples of 3,451 children and adolescents living in SNAP-eligible households in California was collected via telephone surveys in 2017-2018. Youth consumption of fruits and vegetables and of sugar-sweetened beverages and Healthy Eating Index-2015 scores were obtained via a 24-hour dietary recall. Mixed models adjusting for parent, child, and school characteristics examined the associations between school interventions and student dietary and physical activity behaviors.

Results

All data has been collected and analyses are underway. Preliminary mixed modelling results suggest differential associations of SNAP-Ed intervention efforts with all four outcomes. Relative effectiveness of different types and combinations of intervention strategies will be identified.

Discussion

SNAP-Ed is the single largest on-going source of funding for education, PSE changes, and promotional activities to support healthy eating and physical activity in California. Implication of this study’s findings for improving effectiveness of this important investment will be discussed.