SAES-422 Multistate Research Activity Accomplishments Report

Sections

Status: Approved

Basic Information

Participants

Shea Austin Cantu – Arizona, Gemma Bastian – South Dakota, Michelle Scott-Pierce – Cornell, Tomisin Mayaki – South Dakota, Milad Hajankhani – Arizona, Martha Escobar-Gil – Arizona, Leslie Speller-Henderson – Missouri, Teresa Henson – Arkansas, Lola Adedokun – Kentucky, Sumathi Venkatesh – Texas, Saima Hasnin – Illinois, Krystal Hodge – Illinois, RJ Gibbs – Michigan State University Extension, Nurgul Fitzgerald – Rutgers, Maya Azar Atallah – Rutgers, Michael Puglisi – Connecticut, Maruth Emilcar – Rhode Island, Annie Roe – Idaho, Diana Romano – Oklahoma, Karina Diaz Rios – California Merced, Carinthia Cherry – USDA NIFA, Sarah Amin – Rhode Island, Lexi MacMillan Uribe – Texas, Susana Matias – California Berkley, Andrea Leschewski – South Dakota, Katelin Alfaro Hudak – Texas A&M, Stacy Onofrietti – Rutgers

NC3169_-2025-Meeting-Minutes.docx

Accomplishments

Accomplishments

Short-term accomplishments

  • Reached out to 76 EFNEP programs and collected data about the most widely used adult EFNEP curricula in FY24, and corresponding number of participants served by each curricula. We identified the 3 most widely used curricula, which represented a combined reach to 80% of adult EFNEP participants in these programs.
  • A total of n = 24 interviews have been completed as part of the Physical Activity study
  • A total of n = 23 interviews have been completed as part of the Spanish FPAQ study
  • Biomarker CBA group reported n = 432 pretest, n = 348 posttest, n = 266 at 6-month follow-up and n = 187 participants at 1-year follow up.

Outputs 

Presentations

  • Fitzgerald, N, Chen, Q. (2/2025). Retrospective pretest-posttest design to evaluate EFNEP’s outcomes. 2025 National EFENP Coordinators’ Conference. Arlington, VA.
  • Chen, Q, Baker, S, Palmer-Keenan, D, Fitzgerald, N. (7/2024). Exploring Response Shift Bias, Reliability and Validity by Using Retrospective Pretests-Posttests in EFNEP Evaluations. Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior Annual Meeting, Knoxville, TN.
  • Mayaki T, Bastian GE. (2024) Preliminary sensitivity assessment of a Food and Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents from low-income communities. (2024 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior annual meeting, July 31; Knoxville, TN; poster presentation)

 

 

Publications

  • A Leschewski, S Pierce, MC Aragon, SS Baker, M Udahogora, K Pybus, NO Duffy, A Roe, and K Sankavaram. (2024) A Proposed Cost-Benefit Analysis of Adult EFNEP Utilizing Biomarkers of Chronic Disease Risk. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. 56(12):904-917. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2024.07.008

Graduate Students Trained/In training

  1. Maya Azar Atallah, Ph.D., Rutgers University, Advisor: Nurgul Fitzgerald
  2. Tomisin Mayaki, Ph.D., South Dakota State University, Advisor: Gemma Bastian
  3. Maruth Emilcar, Ph.D., University of Rhode Island, Advisor: Sarah Amin

Activities

 EFNEP Evaluation Research

  • IRB collaboration has been initiated with University of Illinois, University of Idaho, and Cornell University
  • Cover Letter and Parent Consent Form Translated to Spanish
  • Working on ActiLife Licensing
  • Protocol training presentation was developed for multistate collaborators
  • Test-retest protocol was piloted by 5 South Dakota high schoolers
  • Tomisin completed his oral comps and has moved to candidacy
  • Tomisin applied for a dissertation fellowship through UW Madison and DHHS to provide funding for his research (still waiting to hear back!)
  • Planning to test the validity protocol in SD this summer

Physical Activity Barriers

  • New and current members: Sarah Amin, RJ Gibbs, Amanda Missimer, Stacey Onofrietti, Michael Puglisi, Annie Roe, Diana Romano
    • Students: Luisa Santos, Dea Ziso, Maruth Emilcar
  • Conducted 9 additional interviews (n=24):
    • Michigan: n=2
    • Oklahoma: n=2
    • Texas: n=3
    • California: n=2
    • Aiming to wrap up interviews by end of June 2025
  • Next steps: EFNEP Peer Educator Physical Activity Brightspace/D2L Site Development: Summer 2025
    • RJ Gibbs (Michigan State) developed six physical activity training modules aimed at Cooperative Extension staff
    • Integrating four additional modules around general PA recs, goal setting/tracking, videos, and facilitator guides for peer educators, and additional content based on interview feedback
    • Embedding evaluation (process outcomes) into modules for peer educator feedback
    • Pre-Pilot Research Planning: Summer 2025
      • IRB Protocol
      • Pre-Pilot Study: Late Fall 2025/Early Spring 2026
    • EFNEP Supervisor/Coordinator research around physical activity with Content Analysis Group (Nurgul/Maya)

 Content Analysis

  • Compiled a list of EFNEP state/territory coordinators/directors with the 76 programs across the US and territories.
  • Reached out to 76 EFNEP programs and collected data about the most widely used adult EFNEP curricula in FY24, and corresponding number of participants served by each curricula. We identified the 3 most widely used curricula, which represented a combined reach to 80% of adult EFNEP participants in these programs.
  • Continued to develop the content analysis instruments and protocols, including the IRB protocol.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

  • Data collection and analysis has completed. Biomarker CBA group reported n = 432 pretest, n = 348 posttest, n = 266 at 6-month follow-up and n = 187 participants at 1-year follow up.
  • Research group has been invited to present findings for NIFA A1334
  • Behavioral CBA has identified chronic diseases to be included in the study and have been mapped back to 24HDR and Adult Questionnaire that are associated with disease risk
  • Next steps include acquiring the FY24 dataset to use in data analysis and creating a “score” for assessing disease risk.

Quality of Life

  • QoL tool being developed that is a survey-based tool that assesses different domains or constructs of quality of life
    • A second survey is being developed to capture quantitative data on class delivery, including instructors’ number of years of service, the number of lessons, and the number of teaching hours, as well as qualitative data on the instructor’s perceptions of class engagement.
  • Cognitive interview data is being analyzed to help refine these instruments
  • Summer/Fall 2025 – reliability and validity testing of survey instruments.

Spanish FPAQ

  • A new Spanish FPAQ member!
    • Susana Matias (Berkeley)
  • 23 interviews completed
    • Concurrent analysis of responses
  • 20 interviews out of 23 analyzed
  • We aim to recruit additional participants from the Caribbean and South America to ensure we represent all Hispanic groups.
  • The team reached saturation before anticipated, and the plan is to use the remaining funds for the next psychometric test.

Milestones

Content Analysis

  • Developed the content analysis instruments.
  • Collected data determining the EFNEP adult curricula most widely used by the programs across the states and territories
  • Collected samples of the selected curricula from the authors.
  • Begun developing the surveys/interviews for the implementation methods.
  • Mayaki T, Bastian GE. (2024) Preliminary sensitivity assessment of a Food and Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents from low-income communities. (2024 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior annual meeting, July 31; Knoxville, TN; poster presentation)
    • Third place winner of the 2024 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior, Nutrition Education for Children Division Student Poster Research Award

Cost-Benefit Analysis

  • Published methods paper in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior

Spanish FPAQ

  • Reached data saturation with cognitive interviews, but will continue to recruit participants from the Caribbean and South America to ensure adequate representation.

Impacts

  1. Since 1969, the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) has provided science-based nutrition education to over 34 million families and youth. One of EFNEP’s strengths has been its emphasis on program evaluation and the scientific rigor of the education provided. The NC3169 multistate research group, since 2008, has been able to assist EFNEP in advancing this commitment to evaluation and rigor through specialized research support. In the first year of this fourth multistate project cycle, work is underway to develop thorough methodologies to assess the cost-benefit of EFNEP education, establish the validity and reliability estimates of questionnaires used to evaluate participant learning, and explore the factors of EFNEP education that are most critical to establishing participant engagement and facilitating behavioral change. In the years to follow, these studies will provide the scientific rationale for EFNEP to continue to use evidence-based strategies and assessments to provide education that improves dietary behavior and bolsters the nutrition security of some of the most vulnerable Americans.

Publications

A Leschewski, S Pierce, MC Aragon, SS Baker, M Udahogora, K Pybus, NO Duffy, A Roe, and K Sankavaram. (2024) A Proposed Cost-Benefit Analysis of Adult EFNEP Utilizing Biomarkers of Chronic Disease Risk. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. 56(12):904-917. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2024.07.008

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