The Effects of Nutrition Education on Perceived Nutritional Food Intake in Food Bank Participants in Delaware County

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Objective: To evaluate the effectives of nutritional interventions in a food bank setting aimed to improve the perception of the availability of nutritious food items.

Design: Quasi-experimental design study and pre/post-intervention assessments

Methods: Food Bank participant nutritional knowledge and confidence levels in their ability to produce nutritious meals with food received from the food bank was evaluated pre and post nutritional intervention.

Setting: Delaware Opportunities, Hamden NY

Participants: Ten people who were utilizing the Delaware Opportunities Food Bank

Intervention: Participants were provided a recipe based on ingredients available at the food bank, a food demonstration of said recipe and a traffic light labeling system accompanied by education and explanation of the categorization.

Results: Nutritional knowledge significantly increased post intervention, however participant confidence in their ability to produce nutritious meals based on food items received from the food bank did not significantly increase.

Conclusion and Implications: traffic light labeling, recipe development, and food demonstration provided at the Delaware Opportunities Food Bank significantly improved participant nutritional knowledge related to the food available but did not significantly increase participant confidence to create nutritious meals moving forward. The results as well as relevant literature suggest that more long-term interventions are needed to improve confidence in a meaningful way.