Facebook Project Pilot Study

United States Department of Agriculture, Pennsylvania Department of Health; Pennsylvania Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (PA SNAP-Ed)
PI: Dr. Dr. Jennifer Savage Williams, CCOR

It is important to explore innovative ways to engage Head Start caregivers, so we tested Facebook as an avenue to engage parents and provide nutrition education. Posts included information and materials from Sesame Street’s Food for Thought: Eating on a Budget curriculum. Twenty-five caregivers participated in the group and were encouraged to actively engage with posts by liking, commenting, and responding to polls. Results from pre- and post-surveys showed that participants were highly engaged and intended to make behavior changes based on the intervention. All participants mentioned that they would recommend a similar group to other parents of Head Start children. This study shows that using Facebook to engage and provide nutrition education to parents is feasible and may be effective in producing behavior-change.