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The Nutrition Services Program is the largest program that provides prepared meals to older adults in need. However, little is known about the factors associated with participants' continued receipt of meals. This study uses longitudinal nationally representative survey data and residential location information to examine the factors associated with continuing to receive congregate meals ( N  = 383). 71.6% of participants in a given month continued to receive program meals in all of the next 12 months. Participants with geographic access to food proximate to their home were significantly more likely to stop receiving meals than those with more limited access (OR = 0.37, CI 0.16, 0.85); this was true among participants who lived alone, were older, had lower income, or lived in an urban area. Understanding the factors associated with continuing to receive congregate meals will ensure that older adults can meet their food needs and have a primary access point for community services.

Objective: To determine the association between Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation and pantry use., Design: A pretest-posttest design that compared pantry use at program enrollment and after 6 months of participation while controlling for household, economic, and geographic characteristics., Setting: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Food Security Survey: a national telephone survey of SNAP new-entrant households conducted in 2011-2012., Participants: A total of 3,191 households that completed baseline interviews and were still participating in SNAP approximately 6 months later., Main Outcome Measure: Received emergency food from pantries in the past 30 days., Analysis: Logistic regression analysis of pantry use with SNAP participation and time-varying household characteristics as independent variables. Statistical significance was assessed using t tests. The authors applied a Bonferroni adjustment to account for multiple comparisons performed., Results: Participating in SNAP for 6 months was associated with a decrease in pantry use by 5.2 percentage points (P < .001), representing a 24% reduction (from 21.8% to 16.6%)., Conclusions and Implications: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit allotments are sufficient for some households, but 76% of SNAP households that enter the program while using pantries continue to do so about 6 months later, which underscores the need to assess the adequacy of SNAP benefit allotments in ensuring access to sufficient food for a healthy, active life., (Copyright © 2016 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: We assessed whether households' participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was associated with improvements in well-being, as indicated by lower rates of psychological distress., Methods: We used longitudinal data for 3146 households in 30 states, collected between October 2011 and September 2012 for the SNAP Food Security survey, the largest longitudinal national survey of SNAP participants to date. Analyses compared households within days of program entry to the same households approximately 6 months later. We measured psychological distress in the past 30 days on a 6-item Kessler screening scale and used multivariable regression to estimate associations between SNAP participation and psychological distress., Results: A smaller percentage of household heads exhibited psychological distress after 6 months of participation in SNAP than at baseline (15.3% vs 23.2%; difference = -7.9%). In adjusted models, SNAP participation was associated with a decrease in psychological distress (adjusted relative risk = 0.72; 95% confidence interval = 0.66, 0.78)., Conclusions: Continuing support for federal nutrition programs, such as SNAP, may reduce the public health burden of mental illness, thus improving well-being among vulnerable populations.

Background: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides nutrition assistance benefits to low-income families in an effort to reduce hunger and improve health and well-being. Because 1 in 7 Americans participate in the program each month, policymakers need to know whether the program is meeting these objectives effectively., Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate the association between SNAP participation and household food security using recent data from the largest national survey of the food security of SNAP participants to date., Methods: The analysis used a survey of nearly 6500 households and a quasi-experimental research design that consisted of 2 sets of comparisons. Using a cross-sectional sample, we compared information collected from SNAP households within days of program entry with information collected from a contemporaneous sample of SNAP households that had participated for ∼6 mo. Next, using a longitudinal sample, we compared baseline information collected from new-entrant SNAP households with information from those same households 6 mo later. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to estimate associations between SNAP and household food security., Results: SNAP participation decreased the percentage of SNAP households that were food insecure in both samples by 6-17%. SNAP participation also decreased the percentage of households experiencing severe food insecurity--designated very low food security--by 12-19%. Findings were qualitatively robust to different empirical specifications., Conclusion: SNAP serves a vital role in improving the health and well-being of households by increasing food security. Given recent legislation to reduce program size and limit program eligibility, this study underscores SNAP's continued importance in affecting households' well-being. Future research is needed to determine whether specific groups of households experience differential improvements in food security., (© 2015 American Society for Nutrition.)

Objective: This article investigates the association between Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation and child food security by using data from the largest national survey of the food security of SNAP participants to date., Methods: The analysis used a survey of nearly 3000 households with children and a quasi-experimental research design that consisted of 2 sets of comparisons. Using a cross-sectional sample, we compared information collected from SNAP households within days of program entry with information collected from a contemporaneous sample of SNAP households that had participated for ∼6 months. Next, by using a longitudinal sample, we compared baseline information collected from new-entrant SNAP households with information from those same households 6 months later. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to estimate associations between SNAP and child food security., Results: SNAP participation was associated with an approximately one-third decrease in the odds of children being food insecure in both samples. In the cross-sectional analysis only, SNAP was also associated with a decrease in the odds of children experiencing severe food insecurity (designated very low food security). Findings were qualitatively robust to different empirical specifications., Conclusions: After controlling for other possible confounders, we found children in households that had participated in SNAP for 6 months experienced improvements in food security. On the basis of these findings, we conclude SNAP serves a vital role in improving the health and well-being of low-income children by increasing food security. Future research is needed to determine whether specific groups of children experience differential improvements in food security.

This study describes the food access environment and food purchase behavior of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) households using data from the SNAP Food Security Survey, the largest and most recent national survey of SNAP participants to date. To characterize households’ geographic access to food, street addresses of households and retailers were used to calculate the distances to stores and numbers of retailers in the area. Food purchase behavior was described by the type of store from which respondents purchased most of their groceries, the reasons why they preferred to shop there, typical mode of transportation, and typical travel time and distance to the store. The study found that at least half of SNAP participants have access to one or more supermarkets within close range of their household and do the majority of their food shopping at a supermarket (less than 1% purchase most of their groceries at a convenience store). SNAP households typically bypass nearby stores to use stores farther from home because they offer low prices or sales. With 1 in 7 Americans currently participating in SNAP, these findings can help policymakers understand the prevalence and extent of access limitations among SNAP households and how they acquire healthy food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]