This is a revision to the currently approved information collection for the WIC Nutrition Assessment and Tailoring Study (WIC NATS).
For this revision, the study has been renamed “WIC Nutrition Assessment and Tailoring Study In-Person Site Visit Data Collection.” It covers in-person site visits and accounts for the burden associated with collecting in-person data. This revision will collect data concerning the nutrition assessment process used by clinic sites in the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to identify nutrition risks and apply that information to the tailoring of participant benefits.
This revision will collect data via in-person site visits, where the data collection activities for the currently approved remote site visits will be replicated for use with 30 WIC clinic sites for in-person site visits once these sites can safely resume in-person operations. This data collection will provide the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) with a comprehensive account of the WIC nutrition risk assessment and benefit tailoring processes provided during in-person clinic services.
This study is an FNS priority resulting from policy changes from the publication in 2006 of the “Value Enhanced Nutrition Assessment (VENA) in WIC: The First Step in Quality Nutrition Services” and the publication in October 2009 of the interim final rule, “Revisions in the WIC Food Packages,” both of which affected the nutrition assessment or nutrition services process.
This voluntary study will collect data from state and local government respondents in the WIC clinics; businesses and other for-profit and non-profit institutions that are WIC clinics, and WIC participants. FNS will use the information gathered from this study to inform program guidance and technical assistance related to the nutrition assessment process to support the implementation of best practices that meet the goals ensuring satisfaction with the program experience, promoting self-sufficiency, and improving the nutrition and health of women and children who participate in WIC.
The study will identify specific practices or features of the nutrition services process associated with participant and staff satisfaction, reduced staff burden, and improved efficiency and will also provide FNS with a comprehensive, detailed description of the WIC nutrition risk assessment process, including how WIC staff apply the process to tailoring participant benefits during in-person clinic visits. FNS will compare data collected from in-person site visits to data collected from remote site visits to explore similarities and differences between remote and in-person nutrition services.
This will allow FNS to better understand if there were differences in service quality or participant and staff satisfaction with WIC during remote appointments under the COVID-19 waiver flexibilities compared to traditional in-person clinic appointments. The data will be used to describe the nutrition assessment and benefit tailoring processes when conducted remotely and will be compared against the same processes used during in-person settings. It will also be used to investigate participant and staff perceptions of WIC nutrition services when provided remotely and will be compared against the perceptions observed during in-person WIC services.