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.