First Analysis of Nationwide Trends in the Use of the SNAP-Ed Evaluation Framework

To understand Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) Implementing Agencies'(SIAs) use of the SNAP-Ed Evaluation Framework (Framework), which is a tool that includes 51 indicators that SNAP-Ed programs can use to measure the success of their programs in the first 5 years after its release.

A repeated cross-sectional study design was utilized to administer electronic surveys to between 124 and 154 SIAs who received SNAP-Ed funding in fiscal years 2017, 2019, and 2021. Analyses included descriptive statistics and tests of proportions.

Most SIAs indicated that they used the Framework to inform both data collection instruments and program planning decisions and the rates remained relatively constant over the 3 time points (> 80%). The most common specific use of the Framework across all 3 time points was to define, count, or measure the work accomplished, but this statistically decreased from 2017 (76%) to 2021 (57%) (z-score = 3.31; P < 0.001).

The results of this analysis confirmed that 5 years after its introduction, uptake and use of the Framework was high and that, as a whole, SIAs focused on priority indicators set by the US Department of Agriculture, with no notable increases in addressing and measuring longer-term, multisector, and population-wide outcomes. The systematic study of the Framework's usability over time has a broader application to other national health promotion initiatives with shared frameworks.