Usage and recall of the Food Stamp Office Resource Kit (FSORK) by food stamp applicants in 4 California counties

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate recall and usage of the Food Stamp Office Resource Kit (FSORK), a set of nutrition education materials designed for use in food stamp offices.

Design: Client intercept exit surveys, an environmental scan, and individual observations of clients in the food stamp office.

Setting: Four food stamp offices in California.

Participants: People applying for food stamps in community social service offices: exit survey (n = 419), environmental scan (n = 308), individual observations of video (n = 111).

Intervention: FSORK includes a video, poster, recipe cards, and brochures for the waiting room.

Main outcome measure(s): Aided and unaided recall of FSORK materials, self-efficacy, video attention (eyes on screen), and observations of materials usage.

Analysis: Descriptive statistics for recall, usage, and video attention.

Results: Nearly 70% of clients recalled, unaided, at least 1 FSORK element with the video recalled the most. In the observation study, of clients who initially engaged with the video, 40% of their viewing time was spent "watching" it.

Conclusions and implications: Food stamp offices are a useful setting for nutrition education in offices that are willing and able to display the materials and show the video.