The effect of the Maryland WIC 5-A-Day Promotion Program on participants' stages of change for fruit and vegetable consumption

The Maryland Women, Infants and Children (WIC) 5-A-Day Promotion Program ex amined the effect of a multifaceted nutrition intervention on changing the fruit and vegetable consumption of low-income women in the WIC program in M aryland. The sample consisted of 3,122 participants (1,443 intervention and 1,679 control) with a mean age of 27.2. Fifty-six percent were Black/Afric an American. This article focuses on the effect of the intervention on the stages of change of the participants. Intervention participants showed sign ificantly greater positive movement through the stages than control partici pants. Stages of change were measured for two specific target behaviors: ea ting dye servings of fruits and vegetables a day and eating more servings o f fruit and vegetables a day. Results demonstrated significant differences in the stage status of intervention and control women and in movement throu gh the stages. The effectiveness of the intervention across groups depended on which staging measure was used.