The purpose of this study is to identify whether spending more money on food leads SNAP and other low-income households to purchase and consume more nutritious foods. Specifically, the study analyzed the percentage and absolute change in diet-quality measures that are associated with a 10-percent increase in food expenditures for SNAP participants and income-eligible nonparticipants. The study also seeks to identify other factors or household characteristics that may affect this relationship.
Breastfeeding promotion and support is a central tenet of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). The Loving Support Peer Counseling Program is an initiative designed to increase breastfeeding initiation and duration rates for WIC participants, as well as to increase community support for WIC participants who breastfeed.
This study provides a comprehensive and systematic picture of the implementation of the Loving Support Peer Counseling Program. Phase I, the Implementation Study, describes the process of the Loving Support Peer Counseling Program implementation in those States that accepted breastfeeding peer counseling grants. Phase II, the Impact Study, will address the research question of what intensity of peer counseling is necessary to increase duration of breastfeeding once the program has met the standards of the FNS model.
WIC Participant and Program Characteristics summarizes the demographic characteristics of WIC participants nationwide in April 2008, along with information on participant income and nutrition risk characteristics, a national estimate of breastfeeding initiation for WIC infants, and a description of WIC members of migrant farmworker families.