Extension program evaluations often present opportunities to analyze data in multiple ways. This article suggests that program evaluations can involve more sophisticated data analysis approaches than are often used. On the basis of a hypothetical program scenario and corresponding data set, two approaches to testing for evidence of program impact…

Background: Few nutrition interventions in kindergarten classes have been evaluated, and none has been tested for program effectiveness, implementation, and dissemination. Building a Healthy Me (BHM) is a nutrition intervention for kindergarteners that is classroom-based and includes a family component. This study evaluated the public health…

Additional strategies to evaluate the impact of community nutrition education programs on low-income individuals are needed. The objective of this qualitative study was to examine the use of the Memorable Messages Framework as an intermediary nutrition education program evaluation tool to determine what fruit and vegetable messages were reported…

Short dietary assessment instruments known as screeners have potential for use in evaluating nutrition education programming because detecting change in dietary intake can demonstrate movement toward program goals. Using screeners results in objective dietary intake data but involves less administrative time, training, and cost than other…

The Youth Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) is one of the United States Department of Agriculture's hallmark nutrition education programs for limited-resource youth. The objective of this study was to gather opinions from experts in EFNEP and related content areas to identify costs, effects (impacts), and related instruments to…

MyPlate, the icon and multimodal communication plan developed for the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), provides an opportunity to consider new approaches to evaluating the effectiveness of communication initiatives. A review of indicators used in assessments for previous DGA communication initiatives finds gaps in accounting for…

The Go Wild with Fruits and Veggies! curriculum incorporates wild animal characters to motivate 3rd-5th grade children to increase fruit and vegetable intake and physical activity. Positive findings from a rural setting regarding a self-reported increase in intake of vegetables (n = 1,285) were verified by more intensive evaluation of vegetable…

From 2004-2008, capacity to conduct program evaluation was built among the "Network for a Healthy California's" 48 largest local partners. Capacity building was done within a framework of Empowerment Evaluation and Utility-Focused evaluation. Tools included: a Scope of Work template, a handbook, a compendium of surveys, an evaluation…

Telephone interviews with 26 extension field staff and 53 nutrition specialists about use of impact indicators found that field staff saw little incentive for conducting evaluations and thought systemwide measures neglected individual program nuances. Specialists considered evaluations important but cited lack of time and resources as barriers.…

Students became much more interested in nutrition after a class project of evaluating and investigating the foods they ate. (GB)

A simple electrical board programed to provide measurement of a nutrition day camp's objectives was fun for eight and nine year old inner-city youths to use; incorporation of pictures aided comprehension. Results indicate that the testing technique was appropriate to the clientele and the program content on the right track. (AJ)

Intended as a resource for individuals wishing to evaluate nutrition education programs, this handbook, one of a series of seven, provides a collection of measuring devices that can improve the quality of such evaluations. Chapter 1 introduces the handbook's contents and outlines evaluation related issues specific to nutrition education programs.…

Evaluated a 16-week nutrition education program that combined a mass media campaign with provision of point-of-purchase materials in supermarkets. Small gains in nutrition knowledge were found, especially among those recalling exposure to the educational materials. Evidence of short-term increases in target food usage were also found. (Author/JN)

Procedures and benefits of a modular approach developed to evaluate the Texas Nutrition Education and Training Program are illustrated. It is shown that meta-analysis and similar summarizing methods create a comprehensive evaluation to improve operations and support planning and development. (SLD)

A model for evaluating an educational program for disadvantaged families (the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, EFNEP) is presented and discussed. The steps in program evaluation are given; these steps are: Rationale; Goals, Intents, Objectives; Antecedents; Transactions; and Outcome. The collection of data is described, and the use…