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Empowering Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Recipients

Received: 1 April 2019     Accepted: 15 May 2019     Published: 11 June 2019
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Abstract

Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a federal program available to expectant and post-partum women of low economic status. The WIC program provides education, nutritional supplements, and provides health and social referrals to recipients. The overall purpose of this study was to create a program that would inform, educate, and empower recipients so they could utilize the WIC EBT card to its full potential by obtaining all items covered and available to them. A descriptive, pre-experimental, one group pretest -posttest design was utilized. Additionally, the researcher administered survey questions to determine what challenges recipients experience, comfort level using the voucher, and other information pertinent to successful use of the WIC EBT card. Consequently, two 45 minutes educational sessions were provided to recipients regarding the approved foods with an emphasis regarding brands and sizes. Following the in-service classes, significant changes were noted in staff knowledge (n=8) regarding WIC approved items (95% confidence interval and a significant value of.029). This indicated there was a change in knowledge when comparing the number of correct responses selected on the pre-test to the correct responses selected on the post-test. After a thorough analysis, the investigator discovered that Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) recipients were comfortable utilizing their WIC EBT card; however, there was a need for additional education on the products covered by the WIC EBT card.

Published in International Journal of Vocational Education and Training Research (Volume 5, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijvetr.20190501.16
Page(s) 33-37
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Women, Infant, and Children (WIC), Recipients, WIC EBT Card

References
[1] United States Department of Agriculture: Food and Nutrition Services. http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/women-infants-and-children-wic. (2015). Accessed on 8 Aug 2017.
[2] Chiasson, M. A. Findley, S. E. Sekhobo, J. P. Scheinmann, R. Edmunds, L. S. Faly, A. S. & McLeod, N. J. (2013). Changing WIC changes what children eat. Obesity, 21 (7), 1423-1429. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/oby.20295
[3] Oliveira V, Frazao E. The WIC Program: Background, Trends, and Economic Issues, 2009 Edition. Washington, DC: US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service; 2009. Economic Research Report no. 73.
[4] Fingar, K. R. Lob, S. H. Dove, M. S. Gradziel, P. & Curtis, M. P. (2017). Reassessing the association between WIC and birth outcomes using a fetuses-at-risk approach. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 21 (4), 825-835. doi: http://dx.doi.org.lib-proxy.usi.edu/10.1007/s10995-016-2176-9
[5] Gregory, E. F. Gross, S. M. Nguyen, T. Q. Butz, A. M. & Johnson, S. B. (2016). WIC participation and breastfeeding at 3 months postpartum. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 20 (8), 1735-1744. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10995-016-1977-1
[6] Toy, S. Tripodis, Y. Yang, K. Cook, J. & Garg, A. (2016). Influence of Maternal Depression on WIC Participation in Low-Income Families. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 20 (3), 710-9.
[7] Chauvenet, C. De Marco, M. Barnes, C. & Ammerman, A. (2019). WIC Recipients in the Retail Environment: A Qualitative Study Assessing Customer Experience and Satisfaction. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 119 (3), 416-424. e2.
[8] Gittelsohn, J. Laska, M. N. Andreveva, T. Foster, G. Rose, D. Tester, J. &…Ayala, G. X. (2012). Small Retailer Perspectives of the 2009 Women, Infants and Children Program Food Package Changes. American Journal of Health Behavior, 36 (5), 655-665. Doi: 10.5993/AJHB.36.5.8.
[9] Cobb, L. K. Anderson, C. A. M. Appel, L. Jones-Smith, J. Bilal, U. Gittelsohn, J. & Franco, M. (2015). Baltimore city stores increased the availability of healthy food after WIC policy change. Health Affairs, 34 (11), 1849-5A. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2015.0632
[10] Robinson, C. (2016). Family composition and the benefits of participating in the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children (WIC). Eastern Economic Journal, 42 (2), 232-251. doi: http://dx.doi.org.lib-proxy.usi.edu/10.1057/eej.2014.43
[11] Noia, J. D. Monica, D. Sikorskii, A. & Karen, W. C. (2017). Outcomes of a randomized controlled trial of nutrition education to promote farmers market fruit and vegetable purchases and consumption among women enrolled in the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children (WIC). BMC Nutrition, 3 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40795-017-0172-0
[12] Tofail, F. Persson, L. A. Arifeen, S. E. Hamadani, J. D. Mehrin, F. Ridout, D. Ekstrom, E. C. Huda, S. N. & Grantham-McGregor, S. M. (2008). Effects of prenatal food and micronutrient supplementation on infant development: A randomized trial from the Maternal and Infant Nutrition Interventions, Matlab (MINIMat) study1’2’3. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 87, 3, 704-711.
[13] Kowaleski-Jones, L. & Duncan, G. J. (2002). Effects of participation in the WIC program on birthweight: Evidence from the national longitudinal survey of youth. American Journal of Public Health, 92 (5), 799-804. Retrieved from https://login.libproxy.usi.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.usi.edu/docview/215106043?accountid=14752
[14] Metallinos-Katsaras, E. Gorman, K. Wilde, P. & Kallio, J. (2011). A longitudinal study of WIC participation on household food insecurity. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 15 (5), 627-33.
[15] Biediger-Friedman, L. Silva, M. & Smith, K. (2018). A Focus Group Study Observing Maternal Intentions to Use a WIC Education App. American Journal of Health Behavior, 42 (6), 110-123. https://doi.org/10.5993/AJHB.42.6.11.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Phoneshia Wells. (2019). Empowering Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Recipients. International Journal of Vocational Education and Training Research, 5(1), 33-37. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijvetr.20190501.16

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    ACS Style

    Phoneshia Wells. Empowering Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Recipients. Int. J. Vocat. Educ. Train. Res. 2019, 5(1), 33-37. doi: 10.11648/j.ijvetr.20190501.16

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    AMA Style

    Phoneshia Wells. Empowering Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Recipients. Int J Vocat Educ Train Res. 2019;5(1):33-37. doi: 10.11648/j.ijvetr.20190501.16

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijvetr.20190501.16,
      author = {Phoneshia Wells},
      title = {Empowering Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Recipients},
      journal = {International Journal of Vocational Education and Training Research},
      volume = {5},
      number = {1},
      pages = {33-37},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijvetr.20190501.16},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijvetr.20190501.16},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijvetr.20190501.16},
      abstract = {Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a federal program available to expectant and post-partum women of low economic status. The WIC program provides education, nutritional supplements, and provides health and social referrals to recipients. The overall purpose of this study was to create a program that would inform, educate, and empower recipients so they could utilize the WIC EBT card to its full potential by obtaining all items covered and available to them. A descriptive, pre-experimental, one group pretest -posttest design was utilized. Additionally, the researcher administered survey questions to determine what challenges recipients experience, comfort level using the voucher, and other information pertinent to successful use of the WIC EBT card. Consequently, two 45 minutes educational sessions were provided to recipients regarding the approved foods with an emphasis regarding brands and sizes. Following the in-service classes, significant changes were noted in staff knowledge (n=8) regarding WIC approved items (95% confidence interval and a significant value of.029). This indicated there was a change in knowledge when comparing the number of correct responses selected on the pre-test to the correct responses selected on the post-test. After a thorough analysis, the investigator discovered that Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) recipients were comfortable utilizing their WIC EBT card; however, there was a need for additional education on the products covered by the WIC EBT card.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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    AB  - Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a federal program available to expectant and post-partum women of low economic status. The WIC program provides education, nutritional supplements, and provides health and social referrals to recipients. The overall purpose of this study was to create a program that would inform, educate, and empower recipients so they could utilize the WIC EBT card to its full potential by obtaining all items covered and available to them. A descriptive, pre-experimental, one group pretest -posttest design was utilized. Additionally, the researcher administered survey questions to determine what challenges recipients experience, comfort level using the voucher, and other information pertinent to successful use of the WIC EBT card. Consequently, two 45 minutes educational sessions were provided to recipients regarding the approved foods with an emphasis regarding brands and sizes. Following the in-service classes, significant changes were noted in staff knowledge (n=8) regarding WIC approved items (95% confidence interval and a significant value of.029). This indicated there was a change in knowledge when comparing the number of correct responses selected on the pre-test to the correct responses selected on the post-test. After a thorough analysis, the investigator discovered that Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) recipients were comfortable utilizing their WIC EBT card; however, there was a need for additional education on the products covered by the WIC EBT card.
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Author Information
  • Health Services Department, University of Southern Indiana, Evansville, United States of America

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