Running head: PROGRAM EVALUATION: HUNGER..HURTS!

FOOD INSECURITY

Program Evaluation: Hunger.. Hurts! Food Insecurity Among College Students

Nickole Argentieri, BS, MPH(s)

Allison M. Bateman, BA, MPH(s)

Rae Chelle D. Gabriel, BS, MPH(s)

Jeanette J. Montoya, BS, MPH(s)

Andrea T. Pineda-Gutierrez, BS, MPH(s)

Department of Health Science and Human Ecology

California State University, San Bernardino

Table of Contents
PROGRAM EVALUATION: HUNGER..HURTS! FOOD INSECURITY AMONG

Executive Summary 3
Mission Statement 4
SMART Goals and Objectives 4
Program Design and Implementation 5
Program Evaluation 7
Recommendations 8
Reflection 9
References 11
Appendix A 13
Appendix B 15
Appendix C 20
PROGRAM EVALUATION: HUNGER..HURTS! FOOD INSECURITY AMONG

Executive Summary

The program evaluated pertains to raising awareness and providing resources of food

insecurity, and its mission to reduce hunger and increase food security among college students.

“Knowledge is food for the mind, without food for the body, learning is impossible” is a quote

mentioned in the PSA that perfectly introduces food insecurity among college students because it

provides a concrete example of how this issue can affect student’s ability to learn, focus, and

overall health. This PSA addresses the target audience based on the high prevalence of food

insecurity among all college students, including CSUSB students, and the rationale behind this

program. Tying in the contributing factors that correlates with food insecurity, such as the high

increase in college tuition fees, and personal living expenses brings a good understanding as to

why food insecurity among college students is a major public health concern.

A formative evaluation was used to critique this program and identify positive and

constructive feedback. The use of visually appealing graphics, current food insecurity statistics,

and Spanish subtitles to cater to the diversity of CSUSB, are all positive attributes that would

make the program successful. However, several tips were recommended to enhance the program

even further. The use of voice overs, extending the length of time to each slide, and a general

outline of typical students’ food environment, will make the PSA more effective while delivering

a stronger message to understand the severity of food insecurity among CSUSB students.

Strong communication and highlighting each other's strengths was key in producing a

successful and timely project. In-person meetings and the use of emails helped with proper

preparation and meeting personal deadlines. The use of background research and creatively

applying what was learned in class, brought the outcome of a successful program evaluation.

Program Evaluation: Hunger.. Hurts! Food Insecurity Among College Students

PROGRAM EVALUATION: HUNGER..HURTS! FOOD INSECURITY AMONG

Mission Statement

The mission statement was well defined in the public service announcement (PSA) for

food insecurity among college students. The mission is to reduce hunger and food insecurity for

the students of CSUSB. The PSA also disclosed factors that could be contributing to hunger and

food insecurity, such as the increase in college tuition and expenses. The lack of adequate

nutrition makes learning impossible, which impacts student academics, and even their futures

after college. By increasing the overall health and well being of CSUSB students, this will

improve the opportunity for academic success. Throughout the PSA, it was clear that this is a

public health concern among college students and more awareness is needed to combat this issue

(see Appendix C for PSA link).

SMART Goals and Objectives

The goals of the PSA for food insecurity among college students, is to bring awareness to

the issue of food insecurity and providing the target population resources, such as the Obersaw

Delivering Emergency Nourishment (DEN), that can be found on campus. By educating students

on the issue of food insecurity, and increasing their knowledge regarding on-campus resources,

this will empower students to increase self-efficacy to reach out and seek assistance when in

need. Objectives were not included in the PSA, but after speaking with the program/PSA creators

the program’s objectives include the following:

1. By summer 2021, the overall awareness of food insecurity and resources available to

students will increase on campus.

2. By summer 2021, reduce food insecurity rates among CSUSB students from the baseline

of 36.6% to 20%.
PROGRAM EVALUATION: HUNGER..HURTS! FOOD INSECURITY AMONG

In order to strengthen the PSA, it is recommended to include the additional objectives, as

well as how they will be implemented to achieve their goals. The information presented was easy

to follow and comprehend, the vocabulary used can be understood at a 5th grade reading level,

and this PSA overall would be a great tool in achieving their program goals and objectives.

Program Design and Implementation

Target Population

The intended target population is college students at CSUSB. When the cost of education

and cost of living continue to rise, college students are finding themselves on an extremely tight

budget and an unfortunate reality facing food insecurity. According to the Urban Institute (2017),

there is an association between college students who face food insecurity and poorer overall

wellness compared to their food secure peers. This poorer overall wellness include health,

academic performance, and mental health symptoms, such as depression and anxiety. The Urban

Institute also claims that food insecurity among college students range from 14% to 72%.

According to the presentation on Supporting Student Success through the Basic Needs Initiative,

36.6% of CSUSB students reported being food insure and 17.9% are facing very low food

security (2016). Additionally, food insecurity was more prevalent among Black/African

American and first generation college students (65.9%) (CSU, 2018). Wondering about the next

nutritious meal is a constant thought for food insecure students throughout their time in college,

but even more so at the end of the academic quarter or semester, or during holidays and breaks,

like spring and summer. During these times are when students, especially undocumented,

commuter and international students, are more likely to experience food insecurity (Watson, T.,

Malan, H., Glik, D., 2017).

PROGRAM EVALUATION: HUNGER..HURTS! FOOD INSECURITY AMONG

College students identify the primary determinant of their food insecurity due to the

rising cost of education, high rents, and inadequate financial aid to meet basic needs. Seventy-

two percent of college students work while attending college—with 20% of them working full-

time—but 41% rely on financial aid to cover expenses and basic needs. At CSUSB, 62% of

undergraduate students are low-income and are Pell Grant recipients (CSUSB, 2017). Despite

reliance on jobs and financial aid, this income is typically insufficient to support themselves

(Dubick, J., Matthews, B., Cady, C., 2016). Moreover, expenses tend to get prioritized by tuition

and fees, books and supplies, then housing, and often food is left as the last of priorities (Watson,

T., Malan, H., Glik, D., 2017).

Program Purpose and Rationale

Food insecurity is an issue that is not only unique to CSUSB campus but is an issue that

is seen amongst numerous college campuses nationwide. As mentioned, 36.6% of CSUSB

students reported being food insure and 17.9% are facing very low food security (2016). These

numbers are shockingly high and a program is needed to improve food security on CSUSB’s

campus. Best practices that have been identified on other college campuses can be used as a

framework to help CSUSB combat this issue. A recent article, How Two Colleges Are Fighting

Food Insecurity on Campus, expressed the importance of a food pantry on college campuses as

one of the key means to tackle this problem (2018). Implementing the Hunger..Hurts! program

would help raise awareness of the food pantry resource on campus, the Obershaw DEN. The

Obershaw DEN is not just a place to where students receive food items but serves as a resource

center to help match and assist those facing hardships with external resources that would benefit

the student in need. Such resources include CalFresh, a nutrition assistance program for low-
PROGRAM EVALUATION: HUNGER..HURTS! FOOD INSECURITY AMONG

income individuals (State of California, n.d.). Displaying the Hunger..Hurts! video across

campus will help raise awareness of this issue and of available resources, like the Obershaw

DEN. As a result, a positive shift in the food insecurity numbers at CSUSB would be expected as

it was seen at Wikes University (2018).

Program Evaluation

The type of evaluation used to critique Hunger.. Hurts! food insecurity among college

students PSA was a formative evaluation. The program has barely been developed and has not

yet been implemented, so it is vital to conduct a formative evaluation in order to present the

group with feedback prior to implementing the program. The evaluation was done to analyze the

possible effectiveness, and how it would be perceived among the target population. Since the

program has not yet been implemented, there is no outcome, so a summative evaluation cannot

be completed. The use of formative evaluation can enhance program components before and

during implementation. In this case, the evaluation was done so the PSA could be modified, to

better serve the campus community. Based on the feedback provided, the group should be able to

make changes to their PSA and bring better results when showcased to students on campus.

This PSA was created in order to have a greater impact. Impact evaluation measures long

term changes in behavioral impact or changes in attitudes, knowledge, and awareness. Since the

program has not yet been implemented, we cannot see the impact the PSA has within the campus

community. The development of this PSA was to bring awareness to students, but also

professors, and campus administration about the importance of increasing food security. By

raising the knowledge about the impact that food insecurity has on student’s well being,

administrators will become more involved in creating change. Thus, the development of more

programs can help students in increasing the percentage of food security on campus.
PROGRAM EVALUATION: HUNGER..HURTS! FOOD INSECURITY AMONG

The group is still in the development process of their program and hope to implement by

June 2020. They hope that by this time they are able to have a more solid video that will be

helpful and significant for the campus community and therefore should be able to see the results

by the following year. The group hopes that by June 2021 a summative and impact evaluation

can be performed on the success, challenges and outcome of the program.

Recommendations

Food insecurity among college students is at a very high percentage and this group puts

an emphasis on the importance of reducing food insecurity among CSUSB’s campus. After

evaluating the PSA, the following positive and constructive feedback will help improve the

program (see Appendix B for individual evaluation reports). One positive feedback, was the

imagery and background throughout the video was well fitted. For example, in the beginning of

the PSA, a student walking through a campus and another reading their book, visually

demonstrated that the target population was college students, and was very well interpreted. The

group also did a great job at keeping the imagery and background consistent with the topic

throughout the PSA.

A second positive aspect was the viewpoints and statistics provided in regards to food

insecurity among college students. The PSA expressed the desire that college students want to

learn and are hungry for knowledge but are unable to learn effectively as a result of the side

effects of the hunger that they face. Mentioning student loan debt issues, and how college used to

be more affordable for students, brought concrete points that indicates these are huge

contributing factors to the high percentage of college students facing food insecurity. Providing

actual statistics within the PSA was a great tactic to understand the severity of food insecurity on

CSUSB and other college campuses.

PROGRAM EVALUATION: HUNGER..HURTS! FOOD INSECURITY AMONG

The last positive quality from this PSA was the Spanish subtitles provided. Due to the

racial diversity on campus, this was great way to incorporate a broader reach of audiences. The

addition of subtitles set a great example of bringing different cultures into learning and

understanding the issue CSUSB faces. The subtitles are displayed for the convenience of

individuals who feel more comfortable reading in Spanish. The PSA did an excellent job of

taking in account the overall educational experience of all individuals.

The PSA would be more effective if a voiceover was included. Doing so would aid in

keeping the audience more engaged, by eliminating the need of having to read the slides. This

will allow the audience to hear the information being presented, fully grasping the content and

emotional truth of food insecurity among college students.

The second constructive feedback, includes improving the length of time of each slide.

With no voiceover and the length of the text per slide, the time allotted was too fast to fully read

and understand the content. The video source, Powtoon, allows up to three minutes of film use

for the free version. Adding extra time to the slides and to allow more time to read and

understand the content, will make the message of the PSA more powerful. Overall, a voice over

will be very beneficial and will make the PSA stronger.

Lastly, understanding why college students are food insecure was lacking may be be

good to express as well. For instance, looking into what kind of food is surrounded by the

college? Is it a food desert? Additionally, the PSA can benefit by providing more information on

the Obershaw DEN resource, and what they provide for CSUSB students, would be helpful for

individuals viewing the PSA.

Reflection
PROGRAM EVALUATION: HUNGER..HURTS! FOOD INSECURITY AMONG

One of the biggest lessons learned while completing this evaluation was the importance

of strong and clear communication. We needed to be clear on dividing up the work so that

everyone had an equal contribution to the evaluation and had the ability to highlight their

qualities appropriately. We found the best way to communicate was after class when all

members were present, email and by creating a google doc that would show everyone's collective

work at a current time (see Appendix A for group meeting minutes). We made sure to set a

personal deadline for us to have these pieces done so that we had sufficient time to edit and blend

the report appropriately.

Some of the new skills that we learned were how to take a visual product that was created

from another group and creatively evaluate it as if it were a real program that was implemented

on our college campus. In order to do this we really had to have a clear understanding of

program evaluations and put in the work to research the topic for a better understanding in order

to fully evaluate the product. This evaluation was a good learning method for us, as some

members within our group may be hired as an external consultant to do a program evaluation.

From evaluating the PSA, we were able to apply our knowledge from HSCI 613 and

identify the Social Cognitive Theory embedded in the PSA. Hunger..Hurts! looks at the

individual level of knowledge and educates those who watch it about campus resources and the

campus issue of food insecurity. The PSA feeds viewers confidence in their ability to use the

available resources by educating them on the location of the Obershaw DEN and how easy it is

to access.
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References

California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). (2016). Supporting Student Success

through the Basic Needs Initiative Presentation. Retrieved from

https://www.csusb.edu/graduation-initiative-2025/events/gi-2025-conference/gi-2025-

program

California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). (2017). Facts and Stats. Retrieved from

https://www.csusb.edu/about-csusb/facts-and-stats

Dubick, J., Matthews, B., and Cady, C. (2016). Hunger on Campus. The Challenge of Food

Insecurity on Campus. Retrieved from http://studentsagainsthunger.org/wp-

content/uploads/2016/10/Hunger_On_Campus.pdf

Presence. (2017). How Two Colleges Are Fighting Food Insecurity on Campus. Retrieved from

http://www.presence.io/blog/how-two-colleges-are-fighting-food-insecurity-on-campus/

State of California. (2019). CalFresh Program. Retrieved from http://www.cdss.ca.gov/food-

nutrition/calfresh

The California State University (CSU). (2018). Study of Student Basic Needs. Retrieved from

https://www2.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/student-success/basic-needs-

initiative/Documents/phaseII-report-with-Appendix.pdf

Urban Institute. (2017). Food Insecurity on Campus. Retrieved from

https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/92331/assessing_food_insecurity_on

_campus_3.pdf

Watson, T., Malan, H., Glik, D. (2017). College students identify university support for basic

needs and life skills as key ingredient as addressing food insecurity on campus.
PROGRAM EVALUATION: HUNGER..HURTS! FOOD INSECURITY AMONG

California Agriculture 71(3):130-138. https://doi.org/10.3733/ca.2017a0023 Retrieved

from http://calag.ucanr.edu/Archive/?article=ca.2017a0023
PROGRAM EVALUATION: HUNGER..HURTS! FOOD INSECURITY AMONG

Appendix A

Group Meeting Minutes

615 Program Evaluation Project meeting minutes

Location: PS 326
Date: February 28, 2019
Time: 10-10:30pm
Attendees: Allison, Andrea, Nickole, Rae Chelle; Not present: Jeanette

Agenda
● Project division – Andrea will send out an email with the project guidelines
● Nickole will start a google doc to invite everyone to choose parts based on their strengths.
● Everyone will get started on their parts in the coming week
● In 2 weeks, we will discuss progress, questions concerns, and personal deadlines

615 Program Evaluation Project meeting minutes

PROGRAM EVALUATION: HUNGER..HURTS! FOOD INSECURITY AMONG

Location: PS 326
Date: March 14, 2019
Time: 8-8:30pm
Attendees: Allison, Andrea, Jeanette, Nickole, Rae Chelle

Agenda
● Check-in on progress/status of the project – everyone is doing well, very few concerns
and questions
● Meet with Food Insecurity group to ask questions about the PSA (goals, objectives,
program implementation)
● Personal deadline: by Monday, March 18th, everyone will have their parts done and into
the google doc
● By Wednesday, March 20th, edits and revisions will be done
● Submit by Thursday, March 21st
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Appendix B

Feedback to HSCI 613 Students

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Appendix C

PSA Link: HUnger.. HUrts! Food Insecurity Among College Students

http://www.powtoon.com/embed/fTve8Uw1AU1/