App Usage Associated With Full Redemption of WIC Food Benefits: A Propensity Score Approach

Abstract

Objective: To examine the relationship between WICShopper application (app) usage and full redemption of Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) food benefits.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Setting: West Virginia WIC program.

Participants: A total of 23,050 West Virginia WIC households in 2019.

Main outcome measures: Full redemptions were defined as the redemption rate of ≥ 90% for a given food benefit.

Analysis: App/non-app users were defined as households with someone using/not using the WICShopper app. Multivariate logistic regressions were applied. To address the potential self-selection bias in app usage, the propensity score (PS) of app usage was estimated. The regressions were rerun with the balanced sample by matching the PS.

Results: With PS matching, the prevalence of full redemption at the household level was 7.2% for app users vs 4.7% for nonapp users (odds ratio, 1.64; 95% confidence interval, 1.40-1.92; P < 0.001). App users had a higher prevalence of full redemption in most food categories, even with PS matching.

Conclusions and implications: Use of the WICShopper app was associated with a higher prevalence of full redemptions in most food benefits after controlling the self-selection bias.

Keywords: EBT; WIC; food benefits; mobile phone app; propensity score.