Investigating the Poverty-Reducing Effects of SNAP on Non-nutritional Family Outcomes: A Scoping Review

Introduction/Purpose Poverty-reduction efforts that seek to support households with children and enable healthy family functioning are vital to produce positive economic, health, developmental, and upward mobility outcomes. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is an effective poverty-reduction policy for individuals and families. This study investigated the non-nutritional effects that families experience when receiving SNAP benefits. Methods We conducted a scoping review using the PRISMA Guidelines and strategic search terms across seven databases from 01 January 2008 to 01 February 2023 (n=2456). Data extraction involved two researchers performing title-abstract reviews. Full-text articles were assessed for eligibility (n=103). Forty articles were included for data retrieval. Results SNAP positively impacts family health across the five categories of the Family Stress Model (Healthcare utilization for children and parents, Familial allocation of resources, Impact on child development and behavior, Mental health, and Abuse or neglect). Discussion/Conclusion SNAP is a highly effective program with growing evidence that it positively impacts family health and alleviates poverty. Four priority policy actions are discussed to overcome the unintentional barriers for SNAP: distributing benefits more than once a month; increasing SNAP benefits for recipients; softening the abrupt end of benefits when wages increase; and coordinating SNAP eligibility and enrollment with other programs. Significance What is already known on this subject? Poverty-reduction efforts that invest in children have especially significant positive benefits by producing positive economic, health, developmental, and upward mobility outcomes. SNAP is among the leading poverty-reducing policies and enrolls the largest number of participants for both nutritional and non-nutritional benefits. What this study adds? To our knowledge, no study has synthesized the non-nutritional impact of SNAP on family health. We found that SNAP positively impacts family health across five categories of the Family Stress Model (Healthcare utilization for children and parents, Familial allocation of resources, Impact on child development and behavior, Mental health, and Abuse or neglect). Further, we present four policy actions resulting from this scoping review that deserve attention from policymakers, program administrators, and retailer establishments: distribute benefits more than once a month;