Nutritional Risk among Congregate Meal Site Participants: Benefits of a SNAP-Ed Program.

This study examined the impact of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) program Fresh Conversations (FC) on the nutritional risk (NR) of older adults (OAs). A convenience sample of OAs (207 Treatment, 148 Control) completed questionnaires comprised of validated measures to assess NR, barriers to healthy eating self-efficacy (SE), food safety behaviors (FSB), and food security (FS) at three-time points over 9 months. Participants were mostly white (92.4%), older (age 81+ years, 40.1%), widowed (52.4%), and females (75.2%). Independent t-tests identified baseline differences among groups. Analysis of covariance assessed group changes at each time point for each measure. Block regression determined which variables influence baseline NR. Baseline NR risk was significantly predicted by SE (β = 0.21), education (β = 0.19) and age (β = 0.14) (p < 0.05). NR improvement was significantly higher for treatment group participants who attended four or more FC sessions than for the control group (p = .04) when controlling for the effects of gender (p = .061) and SE (p = .098).