Association Between Educational Attainment and EFNEP Participants' Food Practice Outcomes.

OBJECTIVE:Examine the association between educational attainment and improvement in food practice outcomes of the California Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) participants. DESIGN:Secondary data analysis. PARTICIPANTS:A total of 19,089 participants, 92.3% female, 77.2% Hispanic, 19.7% with ≤ sixth-grade education, and 68.9% with incomes ≤ 100% of the federal poverty level. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Improvement in food resource management practices (FRMP), nutrition practices, and food safety practices (FSP). ANALYSIS:Wilcoxon signed rank tests examined pre-post outcomes. Mann-Whitney U tests compared whether participants in the lowest and highest educational attainment quartiles had similar levels of improvement. RESULTS:California EFNEP is associated with improved FRMP (z = -95.33), nutrition practices (z = -94.91), and FSP (z = -92.37); (P < 0.001). Lowest educational quartile was associated with more improvement in FRMP and FSP (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS:California EFNEP contributed to improved food practice outcomes for low and high educational attainment participants. Program content and instruction are effective across the education continuum.