Online Training and Resources

Making the Healthy Choice the Easy Choice

Making the Healthy Choice the Easy Choice Logo

Cornell University developed two self-paced, online courses to meet the needs of professionals using policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) approaches to increase access to healthy food and physical activity options for low-income individuals and families:

  • Making the Healthy Choice the Easy Choice – an in-depth six-module course that introduces the learner to PSEs and uses an interactive workbook to guide the learner through designing their own PSE approach in their community (learning time approximately 12 hours, up to 1 year to complete)
  • An Introduction to Policy, Systems, and Environmental Approaches – the first module of the in-depth course which provides both an introduction for those new to PSE approaches and an overview for those with more experience in PSEs (learning time approximately 2 hours, up to 6 months to complete)

To learn more, visit https://www.ecornell.com/custom/pse.

 

RE-AIM Online Training

The RE-AIM Online Training is a web-based module that provides instruction and case examples to illustrate the five dimensions of the RE-AIM framework: Reach, Effectiveness or efficacy, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance. The RE-AIM framework is useful for planning new interventions, adapting existing interventions, and designing evaluations that assess the potential public health impact of interventions. The module provides users with examples of real-life application to policy/environmental change interventions. The following documents include additional resources that support the online module:

    • The RE-AIM Summary Table explains how each RE-AIM dimension is measured, examines what factors influence each dimension, and provides improvement strategies for each dimension. It is recommended to have a copy of this Table available when proceeding through the RE-AIM Online Training.
    • The RE-AIM Notes Template is designed to help you think about how RE-AIM can be applied to your work and should be available when taking the online training. You will be asked to stop and think about the RE-AIM dimensions in the context of the work you do, would like to do, or have already done.
    • The RE-AIM Training References includes the references used in the online module.

 

Roadmap for SNAP-Ed Engagement in ECE Settings

The Food, Fitness, and Opportunity Research Collaborative and Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters convened SNAP-eligible parents and caregivers of young children (0 – 5 years old) and key stakeholders in a series of human-centered design workshops to learn about how SNAP-Ed could partner with Early Childhood Education  (ECE) settings to plan and deliver health promotion strategies to support families’ health and wellbeing.

The Roadmap for SNAP-Ed Engagement in ECE Settings guides SNAP-Ed IAs through six steps to building meaningful, impactful relationships with stakeholders to ultimately engage parents and caregivers in health promotion strategies that center their needs and desires. The Roadmap includes templates and tools for relationship building, collaborative goal settings, and celebrating and communicating successes with partners, parents and caregivers, and beyond.

 

Using Human-Centered Design to Test and Implement Food Retail Interventions to Promote Healthy Food Choices Among Caregivers of Young Children

HCD Food Retail Guide Cover Page

The Food, Fitness, and Opportunity Research Collaborative and Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters convened SNAP-eligible parents and caregivers of young children (0 – 5 years old) in a series of human-centered design workshops to learn about how SNAP-Ed could center their needs and desires when developing food retail interventions promoting healthy food choices.

The Using Human-Centered Design to Test Food Retail Strategies guide highlights the key insights and learnings from these sessions and provides two intervention frameworks prioritized by caregivers – a meal box intervention and a rewards program. The intervention frameworks were co-created with food retail stakeholders, SNAP-Ed Implementing Agencies, and caregivers using human-centered design methods. The guide will walk you through how to use human-centered design methods to select an appropriate intervention framework as well as how to test and refine the framework to your local context.

To watch a training video on how to move these ideas into action, click play below or visit https://youtu.be/NZs_BwSqka4.

 

Systems Approach for Healthy Communities

Systems Approaches for Healthy Communities is a web-based, professional development program that promotes the integration of policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change approaches with educational strategies. The University of Minnesota extension designed the program for organizations whose work focuses on health promotion to help staff understand, reflect, and act on the many factors that influence whether individuals can easily make healthy choices. The program consists of five online modules and two toolkits that contain stories, activities, interactive exercises, and reflection questions. Each module covers distinct topics, including how systems impact health behavior, the role of community engagement in health promotion, and the purpose of assessment in policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) changes. Overall, the program integrates PSE changes with educational strategies in order for participants to develop the skills they need to impact policies, systems, and environments, as well as engage with partners and the community.

 

USDA SNAP-Ed Connection Online Trainings

There are a number of online trainings and professional development resources available from USDA’s SNAP-Ed Connection.

USDA SNAP-Ed Library Resources

The SNAP-Ed Library includes various SNAP-Ed resources and tools. You can search the SNAP-Ed Library by key word and sort results by subject area. The Library contains resources helpful to all aspects of your SNAP-Ed program.