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Evaluating Food Assistance Programs in an Era of Welfare Reform Summary of a Workshop (1999) / Chapter Skim
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4 Current Date Resources And Future Needs
Pages 31-39

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From page 31...
... Furthermore, a voluminous amount of research has been done on the food assistance programs themselves, from which much can be learned and applied in future program evaluations (for example, see Food and Nutrition Service, 1997~. This information is particularly useful in monitoring trends and shifts in food assistance program participation and effectiveness.
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From page 32...
... For example, how to make resources go further or how to influence dietary intake, as has been done to influence smoking behavior. CURRENT DATA COLLECTION METHODS The data that are currently available on the food assistance programs and the approaches that can be used to evaluate their effectiveness have primarily come from national surveys, state and local data resources, and administrative records.
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From page 33...
... Most of the information on food intake and nutrition of the population has come from long-term, large-scale surveys. For example, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, the Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals, and the Diet and Health Knowledge Survey provide a wide array of information about the diets and health of the entire population and can be extremely helpful answering many of questions associated with food assistance program evaluation.
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From page 34...
... NHANES III (1988-1994) had a general structure similar to that of the previous phases, but added 30 topics of study, including high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, obesity, passive smoking, lung disease, osteoporosis, HIV, hepatitis, Helicobacter pylori infection, immunization status, diabetes, allergies, growth and development, blood lead levels, anemia, food sufficiency, dietary intake, and biochemical and urinary assessments.
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From page 35...
... For example, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (called Add Health) has a nutrition component, and several other surveys obtain information about the health of their participants (see National Research Council, 1998b)
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From page 36...
... Workshop participants stressed the importance of using the data provided by these national surveys for program evaluations; however, participants also acknowledged that surveys that rely on selfreporting have inherent limitations, including loss of data due to recall error and accuracy of respondents' answers to survey questions. The National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Program was established by Congress in 1990 under the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act (P.L.
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From page 37...
... Currently, the WIC PC studies collect data on such factors as income, nutritional risk factors, and participation in other assistance programs for the 7 million WIC participants. PRWORA requires that states prepare quarterly reports that include all of the information necessary to calculate TANF participation rates, imposing penalties to ensure prompt reporting.
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From page 38...
... Thus, it is expected that future program evaluations will make greater use of administrative data. Administrative data for evaluating food assistance programs can be obtained from a number of existing sources because of the overlap of food assistance programs with other public assistance programs.
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From page 39...
... Workshop participants agreed that these privacy problems may ultimately require legislation for their resolution. FNS-Sponsored Data Collection Efforts The ENS research program has focused recently on measurement of hunger, cost-effectiveness of the electronic benefits transfer system, assessments of nutrients in the child care food program, and cost saving in the WIC program (see Food and Nutrition Service, 1997~.
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Key Terms

  • assistance programs
  • administrative data
  • national surveys
  • nutrition examination
  • administrative records

  • examination survey
  • program evaluations
  • nutritional status
  • nutrition service
  • future program

  • assistance program
  • food stamp
  • program evaluation
  • public assistance
  • national nutrition

  • records provide
  • obtain information
  • program participation
  • nutrition monitoring
  • risk factors

  • related research
  • collection methods
  • whereas administrative
  • local data
  • collection program

  • evaluating food
  • evaluation efforts
  • current data
  • program changes
  • participation rates


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