Nutrition
nutrition icon The Healthy Hawai‘i Evaluation Team provides evaluation services and support for nutrition-related projects that aim to increase access to healthy foods and increase healthy eating.
HHET evaluation work focuses on nutrition-related policies, systems, and environmental changes across the lifespan with special emphasis on three main priority populations:
- Keiki and Youth: 0-18 years old
- Kupuna: 65 years and older
- Low-income: gross household income at or below 185% of federal poverty level
Nutrition evaluation projects cover a range of topic areas such as breastfeeding, early childcare nutrition guidelines, nutritious meals in schools, and promoting healthy food and beverage options. Evaluation projects are conducted across the four primary sectors of Community Design and Access, Education, Health Care, and Worksite.
Featured Project
Baseline assessment of children’s meals and healthy beverage options prior to a state-level healthy default beverage (HDB) law.
- Peltzer, N.K. Olson, K., Williams, S., Hansen-Smith, H., Elia, J., & McGurk, M.D. Exploring challenges and opportunities for breastfeeding in Hawai‘i during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hawai‘i Journal of Health & Social Welfare, 2021, Oct; 80(10):21-27. (Summary)
- McGurk, M.D., Takeda, C.R., Murakami, J., La Chica, T., & Yamauchi, J. Sugar-sweetened beverage fee: A model to address health disparities in Hawai‘i. Hawai‘i Journal of Health & Social Welfare, 2021, Oct; 80(10):62-64. (Summary)
- McGurk, M.D., Cacal, S.L., Vu, U., Sentell,T., Beckelman,T., Lee, J.,Yang, A. & Pirkle, C.M. (2021). Baseline assessment of children’s meals and healthy beverage options prior to a state-level healthy default beverage (HDB) law. Journal of Healthy Eating and Active Living, 1(2), 53-63. (Summary)
- McGurk, M., Pirkle, C., Beckelman, T., Lee, J., Inoue, K., Yang, A., Hansen-Smith, H., & Sentell, T. (2021). Reinventing health promotion for healthy default beverage laws in the face of COVID-19. Global Health Promotion, 1757975920986696. (Summary)
- Beckelman, T., Sinclair-White, B., McGurk, M., Donohoe-Mather, C., Vu, U., Ching, L.,... Keliikoa, L. (2020). Encouraging Adults to Choose Healthy Now: A Hawai‘i Convenience Store Intervention. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. (Summary)
- Buchthal, O.V., Wolff, G., Kittinger, D., Schaeffner, D., & Nelson-Hurwitz, D. (2018). Using spatial analysis to strategize promotion of EBT usage at farmers markets. Journal of Public Health Nutrition. 2018, Aug 29: 1-7. (Summary)
- Kahin, S. A., McGurk, M., Hansen-Smith, H., West, M., Li, R., & Lopez Melcher, C. (2017). Key program findings and insights from the baby-friendly Hawai‘i project. Journal of Human Lactation, 33(2), 409-414. (Summary)
- Rodericks, R., Vu, U., Holmes, J. R., Ryan, J., Sentell, T., & Saka, S. (2018). Insights in Public Health: Data Highlights from the Hawai'i Youth Risk Behavior Survey: Links Between Academic Achievement and Health Behaviors. Hawai'i Journal of Medicine & Public Health, 77(11), 297–304. (Summary)
- Sweet Lies Countermarketing Campaign Evaluation (Brief Report)
- Maui County Food Access Coordinator Outcome Harvesting Evaluation Study (Summary)
- Hawaii's Young Children's Health Survey (Summary)
- Evaluation Plan for a Proposed Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Fee in Hawai‘i (Evaluation Plan)
- Early Childhood Care and Education (ECE) Technical Assistance and Preparation for a New Online Survey (Summary)
- Food Insecurity in Hawaiʻi Data Brief for PPB (Summary)
- Safety and Wellness Survey (SAWS) Validation Project (Summary)
- Key Informant Perspectives on Disparities in Exclusive Breastfeeding in Hawai‘i (Summary)
- School Wellness Policy Evaluation (Summary)
- Breastfeeding Community Resources in Hawai‘i: Gaps and Needs (Summary)
- Hawai‘i’s Healthy Default Beverage Law for Children’s Meals: Baseline Findings. (Summary)
- Early Childhood Care and Education (ECE) Evaluation Project (Summary)
- Grant Application for Further Evaluation of Hawai‘i’s Healthy Default Beverage (HDB) Law (Summary)
- Choose Healthy Now communications campaign (Publication)
- Evaluation of Choose Healthy Now Implementation in 7-Eleven Hawai‘i (Summary)
- Procurement Analysis of Fruits and Vegetables in Hawaiʻi’s School Cafeterias (Summary)
- Developing Wellness Guidelines for Nutrition and Physical Activity in Hawaiʻi’s Early Care and Education Settings (Summary) (Wellness Guidelines)
- Keliikoa, L.B., McGurk, M., Stupplebeen, D.A., Braden, K., Pirkle, C., & Sentell, T. The word on the street: Lessons learned from using intercept surveys to evaluate environmental change interventions promoting physical activity and nutrition. Oral presentation at the 33rd Annual Conference of the American Evaluation Association, Minneapolis, MN. November, 2019. (Summary)
- Buchthal, O.V., Wolff, G., & Nelson-Hurwitz, D. (2018) Using spatial analysis to strategize promotion of EBT usage at farmers market. Poster presentation at the American Public Health Association Annual Conference, San Diego CA, November 2018. (Summary)
- McGurk, M., Vu, U., Choy, L., Inoue, K., Donohoe Mather, C., Kittinger, D., Beckelman, T., & Buchthal, O.V. (2018). Evaluating a multi-stakeholder workgroup to improve nutrition access for disparate populations. Poster presentation at the American Academy of Health Behavior’s Annual Meeting, Portland, OR, March 2018. (Summary)
Note: HHET members at the time of project participation are listed in bold.