System, environmental, and policy changes: Using the social-ecological model as a framework for evaluating nutrition education and social marketing programs with low-income audiences

A variety of nutrition education interventions and social marketing initiat ives are being used by the Food Stamp Program to improve food resource mana gement, food safety, dietary quality, and food security for low-income hous eholds. The Social-Ecological Model is proposed as a theory-based framework to characterize the nature and results of interventions conducted through large public/private partnerships with the: Food Stamp Program. In particul ar, this article suggests indicators and measures that lend themselves to t he pooling of data across counties and states, with special emphasis on sys tems, environment, and public policy change within organizations at the com munity and state levels.