Knowledge Bank

Ohio ranks 10th in food insecurity in the United States and low-income families with children are among the most vulnerable populations. SNAP-Ed (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – Education) serves a SNAP-eligible audience by providing nutrition education to improve health outcomes. Work on a SNAP-Ed social marketing campaign, Celebrate Your Plate (CYP), began in early 2016 with members of the State Nutrition Action Committee (SNAC) including SNAP-Ed, EFNEP, and other food assistance related agencies across the state of Ohio. The goal of the campaign is to sustainably increase fruit and vegetable consumption for SNAP-eligible families with children and improve their nutritional outcomes by improving overall diet quality. Formative research on the campaign was presented at the 2018 Community Engagement Conference, and rollout of Celebrate Your Plate began in April, 2018 with a systematic distribution of two modes of communication: paid media and statewide resources. Other statewide materials include informational posters and educational incentives (cutting boards, vegetable scrub brushes, jar openers, and measuring spoons) distributed by SNAP-Ed program assistants. The purpose of these materials and the Celebrate Your Plate website is to create sustainable, long-term solutions so low-income Ohioans can eat more fruits and vegetables. To evaluate the efficacy of these two modes of distribution, the Altarum Institute was contracted to conduct a pre-/post-survey in the northeast quadrant of the state where the campaign was in market. The evaluation consisted of 550 phone surveys conducted before and after (1,100 phone surveys total) the campaign was in market and focused on exposure to the social marketing campaign (e.g., print ads, online ads, CYP website) and self-reported health behaviors (e.g., personal perceptions of health, daily consumption of fruits and vegetables, perceived barriers to eating fruits and vegetables, and level of confidence purchasing healthy foods). Preliminary evaluation of these pre- and post-surveys indicate that 20 percent of interviewees were exposed to the campaign with no significant differences in exposure among urban and rural counties. Additionally, early reporting shows that interviewees exposed to the campaign had increased consumption of fruits (0.24 cups) and vegetables (0.41 cups). These findings indicate a positive correlation between campaign exposure and increased fruit and vegetable consumption, which is the first step in creating lasting, sustainable changes in diet quality in low-income populations. The data from this evaluation will be used to optimize the Celebrate Your Plate campaign before rollout occurs in the northwest and southwest quadrants of the state.

AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Elizabeth Hustead, SNAP-Ed program coordinator, hustead.7@osu.edu (Corresponding Author); Ana Claudia Zubieta, SNAP-Ed director, OSU Extension, family and consumer sciences; Brian Butler, program evaluation director, OSU Extension; Alisha Ferguson, program assistant, SNAP-Ed, OSU Extension, family and consumer sciences