Journal Club 7: Overweight and Obesity, Weight Perception, and Weight Management Practices Among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) Participants in Georgia: A Needs Assessment

Speakers: Claudette Bailey, MS, RDN, LD, University of Georgia & Jung Sun Lee, PhD, RDN, University of Georgia

Overweight and obesity remain one of the nation's most serious health problems, putting more than two thirds of US adults at heightened risk for a range of chronic diseases. Although overweight/obesity affects people in the US of all socioeconomic statuses, genders, races, and ethnicities, low-income and minority groups are disproportionately affected. Under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) was reestablished as the Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Grant Program. For the first time in the program's history, weight management falls within its scope. To inform the development of new SNAP-Ed curricula to address obesity prevention, researchers at the University of Georgia conducted a needs assessment to examine the associations among self-reported weight status, weight perception, and weight management practices of SNAP-Ed participants in Georgia.

Learning Objectives

Define the goal of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed).

Compare the prevalence of overweight and obesity among the study sample of SNAP-Ed participants in Georgia to state and national statistics.

Describe the correlation between accuracy of weight perception and weight management practices reported in the literature and observed in the study sample of SNAP-Ed participants in Georgia.

Claudette Bailey, MS, RDN, LD, University of Georgia

Claudette earned her bachelor’s in Dietetics and master’s in Foods and Nutrition at the University of Georgia, where she conducted her graduate research on overweight and obesity among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) participants in Georgia. Claudette went on to complete her dietetic internship at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Currently, Claudette works part-time as a program manager for Columbus Public Health’s Healthy Children, Healthy Weights program and part-time as a clinical dietitian at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

Jung Sun Lee, PhD, RDN, University of Georgia

Dr. Lee is a professor in the Department of Foods and Nutrition and faculty of Gerontology at the University of Georgia. Dr. Lee has training and background in community nutrition, epidemiology, and aging, with specific expertise in food insecurity research, conducting evaluation studies on food and nutrition assistance programs, community-based nutrition interventions, and policy addressing nutrition-related health disparities in low-income populations. Dr. Lee and her team have established the University of Georgia SNAP-Ed program, providing an innovative, culturally tailored, multi-level nutrition education and obesity prevention intervention to low-income Georgians since 2013.