Research

Youth Curriculum

Portrayals of branded soft drinks in popular American movies: A content analysis. Cassady D, Townsend M, Bell R, Watnik M.
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 2006; 3:4.

Portrayals of Food Practices and Exercise Behavior in Popular American Films. Bell R, Berger C, Cassady D, Townsend MS.
J Nutrition Educ Behav. 2005; 37: 27-32.

Goal setting as a strategy for dietary and physical activity behavior change: A Review of the Literature.
Shilts M, Horowitz M, Townsend MS.
American Journal Health Promotion. 2004; 19: 82-93.

Adapting a Diet Analysis Application for an Adolescent Audience. Horowitz M, Shilts M, Townsend MS.
J Nutrition Educ Behav. 2005; 37(1): 43-44.

Eatfit: A goal oriented intervention that challenges adolescents to improve their eating and fitness choices.
Horowitz M, Shilts M, Townsend MS.
J Nutrition Educ Behav. 2004; 36(1): 43-44.

An innovative approach to goal setting for adolescents: Guided goal setting.
Shilts M, Horowitz M, Townsend MS.
J Nutrition Educ Behav. 2004; 36(3): 155-156.

Teacher Recruitment

Pilot Study: EatFit improves 6th graders academic performance on Standardized Math and English Tests.
Shilts M, Lamp C, Horowitz M, Townsend MS.
J Nutrition Educ Behavior. 2009; 41(2): 127-131.

A standards-driven evaluation of academic performance: An 8-step process for nutrition educators.
Horowitz M, Shilts M, Lamp C, Townsend MS.
J Nutrition Educ Behavior. 2008; 40(6): 401-403.

EFNEP Adult Evaluation

Client-driven tools: Improving evaluation for low-literate adults and teens while capturing better outcomes.
Johns M, Townsend MS.
Forum for Family and Consumer Issues. In press.

EFNEP and Obesity Prevention: Developing a Healthy Weight Tool

Guiding family-based obesity prevention efforts in low-income children in the United States: Part 1- What determinants do we target?
Ontai L, Ritchie L, Williams ST, Young T, Townsend MS.
International J Child Adolescent Health. 2009; Vol 2(1): 19-30.

Guiding family-based obesity prevention efforts in low-income children in the United States: Part 2- What behaviors do we measure?
Townsend MS, Young T, Ontai L, Ritchie L, Williams ST.
Intl J Child Adoles Health. 2009; Vol 2(1): 31-48.

Validation Studies for Mediators of Behavior Change

Development of an evaluation tool to assess psychosocial indicators of fruit and vegetable intake for two federal programs.
Townsend MS, Kaiser LL.
J Nutrition Educ Behav. 2005;37(4):170-184.

Brief psychosocial fruit and vegetable tool is sensitive for United States Department of Agriculture's nutrition education programs.
Townsend MS, Kaiser LL.
J Am Diet Assoc. 2007;107(12):2120-2124.

Validation Studies for Food Behavior Checklist for Spanish Speakers

Assessing factorial and convergent validity and reliability of a food behavior checklist for Spanish-speaking participants in USDA nutrition education programs.
Banna JC, Townsend MS.
Public Health Nutrition. In press.

Using qualitative methods to improve questionnaires for Spanish speakers: Assessing face validity of a food behavior checklist.
Banna JC, Vera Becerra LE, Kaiser LL, Townsend MS.
J Am Diet Assoc. 2010; 110(1):80-90.

Validation Studies for Food Behavior Checklist

Improving readability of an evaluation tool for low-income clients using visual information processing theories.
Townsend MS, Sylva K, Martin A, Metz D, Wooten-Swanson P.
J Nutr Educ Behav. 2008;40(3):181-6.

Evaluating food stamp nutrition education: Process for development and validation of evaluation measures.
Townsend MS.
J Nutr Educ Behav. 2006;38(1): 18-24.

Food behavior checklist effectively evaluates nutrition education.
Blackburn ML, Townsend MS, Kaiser LL, Martin AC, West EA, Turner B, Joy AB.
California Agriculture. 2006;60(2):20-24.

Selecting items for a food behavior checklist for a limited resource audience.
Townsend MS, Kaiser LL, Allen LH, Joy AB, Murphy SP.
J Nutr Educ Behav. 2003;35(2):69-77.

Evaluation of validity of items in a food behavior checklist.
Murphy S, Kaiser LL, Townsend MS, Allen L.
J Am Dietetic Assoc. 2001 Jul;101(7):751-6.

Youth Evaluation

Evidence to support the use of the retrospective pretest method to measure dietary and physical activity behavior and self-efficacy in adolescents.
Shilts M, Smith D, Ontai L, Townsend MS.
J Youth Development. 2008;3(1): Article 080301RS002.

Evaluation of a USDA nutrition education program for low-income youth. Townsend MS, Johns, M, Shilts MK, Farfan-Ramirez L.
J Nutrition Educ Behavior. 2006;38(1): 30-41.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Cost-Benefit Analysis for California EFNEP
Joy, Amy Block; Goldman, George; & Pradhan, Vijay. (2006). Cost-benefit analysis conducted for nutrition education in California. California Agriculture, 60(4). Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/7kz1r9cv

Additional Research

Joy, AB; Hudes, M. (2010). High Risk of Depression for California Low-Income Women
http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.edu/landingpage.cfm?article=ca.v064n01p22&fulltext=yes