IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/isu/genstf/201401010800001219.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Strategies to improve the dietary quality of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries: an assessment of stakeholder opinions

Author

Listed:
  • Blumenthal, Susan J
  • Hoffnagle, Elena E
  • Leung, Cindy W
  • Lofink, Hayley
  • Jensen, Helen H
  • Foerster, Susan B
  • Cheung, Lilian WY
  • Nestle, Marion
  • Willett, Walter C

Abstract

Objective: To examine the opinions of stakeholders on strategies to improve dietary quality of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants. Design: Participants answered a thirty-eight-item web-based survey assessing opinions and perceptions of SNAP and programme policy changes. Setting: USA. Subjects: Survey of 522 individuals with stakeholder interest in SNAP, conducted in October through December 2011. Results: The top three barriers to improving dietary quality identified were: (i) unhealthy foods marketed in low-income communities; (ii) the high cost of healthy foods; and (iii) lifestyle challenges faced by low-income individuals. Many respondents (70 %) also disagreed that current SNAP benefit levels were adequate to maintain a healthy diet. Stakeholders believed that vouchers, coupons or monetary incentives for purchasing healthful foods might have the greatest potential for improving the diets of SNAP participants. Many respondents (78 %) agreed that sodas should not be eligible for purchases with SNAP benefits. More than half (55 %) believed retailers could easily implement such restrictions. A majority of respondents (58 %) agreed that stores should stock a minimum quantity of healthful foods in order to be certified as a SNAP retailer, and most respondents (83 %) believed that the US Department of Agriculture should collect data on the foods purchased with SNAP benefits. Conclusions: Results suggest that there is broad stakeholder support for policies that align SNAP purchase eligibility with national public health goals of reducing food insecurity, improving nutrition and preventing obesity.

Suggested Citation

  • Blumenthal, Susan J & Hoffnagle, Elena E & Leung, Cindy W & Lofink, Hayley & Jensen, Helen H & Foerster, Susan B & Cheung, Lilian WY & Nestle, Marion & Willett, Walter C, 2014. "Strategies to improve the dietary quality of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries: an assessment of stakeholder opinions," ISU General Staff Papers 201401010800001219, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:isu:genstf:201401010800001219
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/75cd39e0-9e04-4126-b46d-e1d52aa37b4b/content
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:mpr:mprres:6818 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. repec:mpr:mprres:6820 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. repec:mpr:mprres:4560 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. repec:mpr:mprres:7120 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Congressional Budget Office, 2012. "The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program," Reports 43173, Congressional Budget Office.
    6. Coleman-Jensen, Alisha & Nord, Mark & Andrews, Margaret S. & Carlson, Steven, 2011. "Household Food Security in the United States in 2011," Economic Research Report 134715, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    7. Congressional Budget Office, 2012. "The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program," Reports 43173, Congressional Budget Office.
    8. repec:mpr:mprres:7119 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Esa Eslami & Kai Filion & Mark Strayer, 2011. "Characteristics of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Households: Fiscal Year 2010," Mathematica Policy Research Reports a748e33a1cf4400b86b386017, Mathematica Policy Research.
    10. Committee to Review the WIC Food Packages of which Barbara L. Devaney is a member, "undated". "WIC Food Packages: Time for a Change," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 989d259284974842a250546c8, Mathematica Policy Research.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert E. Hall, 2015. "Quantifying the Lasting Harm to the US Economy from the Financial Crisis," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(1), pages 71-128.
    2. Hudak, Katelin M. & Racine, Elizabeth F., 2021. "Do additional SNAP benefits matter for child weight?: Evidence from the 2009 benefit increase," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    3. Coleman-Jensen, Alisha & Nord, Mark, 2013. "Food Insecurity Among Households With Working-Age Adults With Disabilities," Economic Research Report 142955, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    4. Oliveira, Victor & Prell, Mark & Tiehen, Laura & Smallwood, David, 2018. "Design Issues in USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Looking Ahead by Looking Back," Economic Research Report 276253, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    5. Sherry Glied, 2022. "Presidential Address: Connecting the Dots: Turning Research Evidence into Evidence for Policymaking," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(3), pages 676-682, June.
    6. Askelson, Natoshia M. & Golembiewski, Elizabeth H. & Baquero, Barbara & Momany, Elizabeth T. & Friberg, Julia & Montgomery, Doris, 2017. "The importance of matching the evaluation population to the intervention population: Using Medicaid data to reach hard-to-reach intervention populations," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 64-71.
    7. Justine Hastings & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2018. "How Are SNAP Benefits Spent? Evidence from a Retail Panel," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(12), pages 3493-3540, December.
    8. Jessica E. Todd, 2015. "Revisiting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cycle of food intake: Investigating heterogeneity, diet quality, and a large boost in benefit amounts," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 37(3), pages 437-458.
    9. Almada, Lorenzo N. & Tchernis, Rusty, 2018. "Measuring effects of SNAP on obesity at the intensive margin," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 150-163.
    10. Tim Slack & Candice Myers, 2014. "The Great Recession and the Changing Geography of Food Stamp Receipt," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 33(1), pages 63-79, February.
    11. Parolin, Zachary & Luigjes, Christiaan, 2019. "Incentive to Retrench? Investigating the Interactions of State and Federal Social Assistance Programs after Welfare Reform," OSF Preprints s5fwr, Center for Open Science.
    12. Andrew London & Colleen Heflin, 2015. "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Use Among Active-Duty Military Personnel, Veterans, and Reservists," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 34(6), pages 805-826, December.
    13. Robert B. Nielsen & Martin C. Seay & Melissa J. Wilmarth, 2018. "The Receipt of Government Food Assistance: Differences Between Metro and Non-Metro Households," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 117-131, March.
    14. repec:mpr:mprres:7386 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Hilary Hoynes & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, 2015. "US Food and Nutrition Programs," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, Volume 1, pages 219-301, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Zachary Parolin & Christiaan Luigjes, 2018. "Incentive to Retrench? Institutional Moral Hazard among Federal & State Social Assistance Programs after Welfare Reform," Working Papers 1802, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    17. Cancian, Maria & Han, Eunhee & Noyes, Jennifer L., 2014. "From multiple program participation to disconnection: Changing trajectories of TANF and SNAP beneficiaries in Wisconsin," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 91-102.
    18. Davis, George C. & You, Wen, 2013. "Estimates of returns to scale, elasticity of substitution, and the thrifty food plan meal poverty rate from a direct household meal production function," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 204-212.
    19. Prell, Mark & Smallwood, David, 2017. "Comparing Alternative Economic Mechanisms To Increase Fruit and Vegetable Purchases," Economic Information Bulletin 256715, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    20. Oliveira, Victor & Frazao, Elizabeth, 2015. "The WIC Program: Background, Trends, and Economic Issues, 2015 Edition," Economic Information Bulletin 197543, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    21. Danielle L. Nunnery & Jigna M. Dharod, 2017. "Potential determinants of food security among refugees in the U.S.: an examination of pre- and post- resettlement factors," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(1), pages 163-179, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:isu:genstf:201401010800001219. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Curtis Balmer (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deiasus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.