PROJECT SUMMARY
This proposal entitled, ‘Evaluation and enhancement of the Summer Food Service Program in youth from
an urban, low-resource community’, is for a Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) for Dr. E.
Whitney Evans, PhD, RD an Instructor (Research) at the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center
(WCDRC) at The Miriam Hospital and Brown University Medical School. Dr. Evans received her PhD in
nutritional epidemiology from the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, where she
developed expertise in nutrition and the analytical skills to study the role of diet in relative weight in youth. Dr.
Evans’ long-term career goal is to draw upon this background to design and conduct innovative obesity
interventions specific to low-income youth. Thus, in response to evidence that low-income youth are at
increased risk for excess summer weight gain, this application focuses on an existing federal nutrition
assistance program – the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) – to determine how it can be enhanced to
minimize income-related health disparities.
To help Dr. Evans successfully carry out this research and achieve her long-term career goal, this award
will provide training in four key content areas: 1) qualitative research methods, 2) the design and conduct of
behavioral obesity interventions, 3) advanced statistical methods to analyze data from randomized controlled
trials (RCTs), and 4) weight-related health disparities. This training will occur through formal didactics and
hands-on research experience under the guidance of a highly qualified team of mentors. Dr. Evans will work
closely with her primary mentor, Dr. Rena Wing, an internationally recognized obesity researcher, and four co-
mentors: Dr. Sara Folta (qualitative research methods); Dr. Elissa Jelalian (behavioral obesity interventions for
youth); Dr. Richard Jones (RCT statistical analysis); and Dr. Elsie Taveras (weight-related health disparities).
Through three complimentary studies, the proposed research project will thoroughly evaluate the SFSP.
First, it will examine how dietary intake patterns (total energy intake and diet quality, as measured by the
Healthy Eating Index, 2010), change in BMI z-score (as a proxy for change in total body adiposity), and SFSP
participation over the summer relate to each other low-income schoolchildren, ages 6-12 years. Second,
through focus groups with low-income families, it will identify motivators for and barriers to SFSP participation.
Findings from these two formative studies along with the training Dr. Evans receives in behavioral obesity
intervention development will be used to design an enhanced version of the SFSP. The enhanced SFSP will
target relevant obesity risk factors identified in study 1 as well as SFSP participation barriers identified in study
2 to improve SFSP engagement. The feasibility, acceptability and preliminary efficacy of this enhanced version
of the SFSP will then be compared to the standard SFSP in an RCT on the basis of participation, diet and
excess summer weight gain. This research will form the basis for a larger efficacy trial of the intervention to be
proposed in an R01 application.