Peer Editing Review/AMA format

Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (“WIC Program”) serves 9.3 million limited-resource, nutritionally at-risk mothers, infants, and children under age 5 in the U.S.1 WIC provides free supplemental healthy foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and healthcare referrals. WIC improves diet quality among low-income children, but participation in the program drops as children age, particularly at ages 2-4.1 Since 2013, the number of persons participating in the program has decreased (Table 1 & 2).1,2 As WIC aims to increase the number of participants in its program, ChEW objectives to disseminate the WIC app within the state of Tennessee has increased with forward progress.2 Going into its 3rd year with Vanderbilt University Medical Center, ChEW intervention is currently in its design phase and pursuing short-term objectives as follows: interview candidates to test the app and ultimately enroll into WIC programs, development of the app through accumulation of healthy recipes and nutrition labels, and accumulation of images not subject to copyright for app design.

Table 1. USDA. US Department of Agriculture: Food and Nutrition.

Table 2. USDA. US Department of Agriculture: Food and Nutrition.

I, the student, entered the development phase of ChEW. Short-term objectives to accomplished during 120 practicum hours was the completion of healthy nutrition recipes and labels. To date, an estimated 250 recipes and nutrition labels have been created utilizing NutriPro nutritional software program. It is estimated that a total of 300 recipes will be completed by the end of the practicum hours. Data has not yet begun to pool for results. However, the design phase is necessary for successful intervention and, in compliance with the competencies selected it employs evidence-based and culturally appropriate methods to plan, implement, and administer health interventions to address community and population health needs.

Interviewing participants for the program assists applicants in determining whether they are potentially eligible to receive WIC benefits. Collaborations with the ChEW team (Vanderbilt, Tennessee State, Meharry Alliance) requires effective communication in which demonstrating appropriate and effective communication and advocacy skills when interacting with diverse audiences in the context of health, complies with the second competency selected. Several persons interested in participating in the ChEW research are currently being enrolled for research, and interviews will be conducted in the coming weeks. Results from this process will continue to be updated over time. This process is still undergoing and meets the competencies guidelines in select quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, as it requires the interviewer to analyze quantitative and qualitative data using biostatistics, informatics, computer-based programming and software to determine individual eligibility for the program. To be eligible for the WIC Program, applicants must meet all of the following eligibility requirements:

· Categorical

· Residential

· Income

· Nutrition Risk2,3

Depending on whether the individual is pregnant, postpartum, breastfeeding, an infant, or a child, an eligible individual usually receives WIC benefits from 6 months to a year, at which time she/he must reapply.3

Developing version 2.0 of the CHEW app to enhance the features and functionality, include implementation strategies such as adding appealing images of healthy foods into the app. The Tennessee WIC program plans use the CHEW app in WIC clinics across the state, which will reach over 70,000 families with 2-4-year-old children during the course of the five-year project.4 The overall goal for this project is to evaluate the impact of the CHEW app on increasing the use of WIC benefits, improving diet quality, and reducing other obesity risk factors among preschool-aged children from limited-resource families. Implementation strategies meet the competencies that apply epidemiological methods to the breadth of settings and situations in public health practice.

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