Feasibility of Using Facebook to Engage SNAP-Ed Eligible Parents and Provide Education on Eating Well on a Budget.

This study examined the use of Facebook to provide education on food resource management and healthy eating on a budget to parents of preschool aged children participating in Head Start. A convenience sample of 25 parents participated in a Facebook group based on Sesame Street's Food for Thought: Eating Well on a Budget curriculum over a 3-week period. Parent engagement was assessed by examining views, likes, and comments on posts. Qualitative data were used to assess knowledge, attitudes, and barriers experienced related to healthy eating on a budget. The results suggest that parents were engaged throughout the intervention, as evidenced by views, likes, and comments on Facebook posts, as well as by study retention (90%). Interactions with the intervention materials varied by post content, with discussion questions having the highest level of interaction. Facebook was found to be a feasible platform for delivering the intervention, and the Facebook-adapted version of the Sesame Street curriculum was shown to engage Head Start parents living in rural areas. Further research should explore the use of social media platforms for delivering nutrition education interventions to rural populations that are otherwise difficult to reach.

Food insecurity is associated with suboptimal sleep quality, but not sleep duration, among low-income Head Start children of pre-school age.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between food insecurity and child sleep outcomes and to investigate whether parent psychosocial factors mediate such associations. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. Usual wake time and bedtime, bedtime routine and sleep quality were reported by parents using the adapted Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire. Food insecurity was assessed using the eighteen-item US Department of Agriculture Household Food Security Module. Parent psychosocial factors, including perceived stress, parenting self-efficacy and depressive symptomology, were assessed using validated scales. Multivariable logistic regression models were performed to determine the association between food insecurity and sleep outcomes controlling for potential confounders. Mediation analyses and Sobel tests were applied to test the mediating effect of psychosocial factors. SETTING: Head Start pre-school classrooms in four regions across central Pennsylvania, USA. PARTICIPANTS: Low-income children of pre-school age (n 362) and their caregivers. RESULTS: Prevalence of household, adult and child food insecurity was 37·3, 31·8 and 17·7 %, respectively. Food security status at any level was not associated with child sleep duration or bedtime routine. Child food insecurity, but not household or adult food insecurity, was associated with 2·25 times increased odds (95 % CI 1·11, 4·55) of poor child sleep quality in the adjusted model. Perceived stress, self-efficacy and depressive symptomology mediated less than 2 % of the observed effect (all Sobel test P > 0·6). CONCLUSION: Food insecurity, particularly at the child level, is a potential modifiable risk factor for reducing sleep-related health disparities in early childhood. Future studies are needed to explore the plausible mechanisms underlying the associations between food insecurity and adverse child sleep outcomes.