Browsing by Author "Blackburn, Sara A."

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Impact of Online Nutrition Education on WIC Client Retention and Redemption of the Cash Value Benefit of Fruit and Vegetables
    (2021-06) Gray, Sara Michelle; O'Palka, Jacquelynn; Blackburn, Sara A.; Magee, Paula
    All participants of the Indiana Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infant and Children (WIC) receive supplemental foods, nutrition education, and health care referrals. The Indiana WIC program established an online nutrition education program to help eliminate barriers to participants who are unable to be physically present for their second nutrition education appointments. The aim of this study was to compare the participation of WIC participants enrolled in standard in-person appointments with WIC participants enrolled in the Online Nutrition Education (ONE) pilot program by assessing the completion of the ONE lessons and the cash value benefit usage at 3 months after participants’ acceptance into the WIC program. A quasi-experiment was performed using a time series comparison of WIC participant attendance at their in-person nutrition education appointment to participants completion of an online nutrition education lesson. A second comparison of the two groups observed the participants redemption of their cash value benefit on fruits and vegetables (CVB). The increase in participation from 2019 to 2020 was statistically significant (P=0.035). Analysis showed that there was a significant difference (P ≤ 0.001) between the 2019 and 2020 CVB mean redemption rates. This study provides evidence that WIC participants are more likely to maintain their participation when offered the addition of an online nutrition education appointment type.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Mid-upper arm circumference and nutritional risk in macrocephalic pediatric patients
    (2022-06) Wadelton, Christina Ann; O'Palka, Jacquelynn M.; Christensen, Celanie; Blackburn, Sara A.
    Objective: Nutritional assessment and diagnosis of malnutrition in pediatric patients is dependent on anthropometric measurements. In macrocephalic children, current anthropometric measures may fail to correctly diagnose malnutrition. The purpose of this study is to determine if the measurement of mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) in pediatric patients with macrocephaly better identifies children at nutritional risk as compared to weight-for-length (WFL) or body mass index (BMI). Methods: A cross-sectional pilot study of children aged 6-36 months with a head circumference 2 SD above the mean was performed. Visual assessment was used as the clinical “gold standard” for presence of malnutrition. MUAC was compared to the WFL or BMI for each child to determine which anthropometric measurement better identified presence of malnutrition. Statistics: Two-way contingency tables were used to summarize the relationships between each pair of assessments of whether a child is malnourished. Agreement between the methods was evaluated using kappa statistics and percent agreement. Analyses were performed using SAS version 9.4 ™ statistical software. Results: Twenty patients were included who met study criteria. The mean head circumference z-score was 2.6. The mean BMI/WFL z-score was 0.9, which would qualify the child as “nourished.” Of the 20 children included in the study, 20% (n=4) appeared visually malnourished on physical exam. BMI/WFL confirmed diagnosis of malnutrition in 75% (n=3) of children. MUAC confirmed diagnosis of malnutrition in 75% (n=3) of children. Diagnosis of malnutrition using BMI/WFL as compared to visual assessment had a non-significant p-value of 0.317. Diagnosis of malnutrition using MUAC as compared to visual assessment had a non-significant p-value of 0.317. With a p-value of >0.5, there is no statistically significant difference between BMI/WFL and MUAC in diagnosis of malnutrition. Conclusion: MUAC did not perform better than BMI/WFL at identifying malnutrition in pediatric macrocephalic patients.