© 2006 Thomson-Wadsworth Chapter 17 Principles of Nutrition Education

© 2006 Thomson-Wadsworth

Chapter 17

Principles of Nutrition Education


Learning Objectives

• Develop a nutrition education plan for a program intervention.

• Design nutrition messages.• Describe four strategies for

increasing program participation.• Describe three basic principles of

effective writing.


Introduction

• Nutrition education is an instructional method that promotes healthy behaviors by imparting information that individuals can use to make informed decisions about food, dietary habits, and health.


Introduction

• The successful nutrition message has a favorable impact on the target audience and gets them to:– Examine their belief system.– Evaluate the consequences of a

certain behavior.– Change their behavior.


Applying Educational Principles to Program Design

• An effective nutrition intervention program will integrate good instructional design and learning principles and use media that facilitate a high degree of individualization.

• The effect of an intervention on the target population’s knowledge and behavior depends on the intervention’s application of 6 basic educational principles...





• Consonance - the fit between program and its objectives.

• Relevance - the degree to which the intervention is geared to clients.

• Individualization - allows clients to have personal questions answered or instructions paced according to individual learning progress.



• Feedback - helps clients learn by providing a measuring stick to determine how much progress they are making.

• Reinforcement - designed to reward the desired behavior.

• Facilitation - measures taken to accomplish desired actions or eliminate obstacles.


Learning across the Life Span

• People of any age learn best if:– They have the prerequisite

knowledge.– Content is broken into small pieces.– They have an opportunity to practice

what they have learned.– The content seems relevant.




Adult Learners

• Adult education - the process whereby adults learn and achieve changes in knowledge, attitudes, values, and skills.

• For adults, learning is an intentional, purposeful activity.

• Adult learners approach learning differently than children do because they have different motivations for learning.


Adult Learners

• Characteristics of adult learners include the following:– They learn best when subject matter

is directly tied to their own realm of experience.

– Their learning is facilitated when they can make connections between their past experiences and their current concerns.


Adult Learners

• Characteristics of adult learners (continued):– They are motivated to learn by the

relevance of the topic to their lives.– They retain new information best

when they are actively involved in problem-solving exercises and hands-on learning.


Adult Learners

• An effective program takes into account the learning styles and motivations of the target population.


Adult Learners

• Recommendations for adult learners:– Make learning problem-centered.– Make information concrete and define all

abstract terms.– Make learning collaborative between the

educator and the learner.– Encourage participatory approaches to

learning.– Ask open-ended questions to draw out what

adults already know about the topic.


Adult Learners

• Recommendations (continued):– Seize the “teachable moments” which are

life transitions.– Increase the adult learners’ sense of self-

worth by validating their experiences.– Establish a positive learning environment.– Recognize individual and cultural

differences because they affect learning styles.




Adult Learners

• Target groups should be researched by:– Reviewing the literature– Conducting formative research– Asking representatives from the

audience to help you with the planning and development of the program


Behaviorally Focused Nutrition Education Programs for Children

• Behaviorally focused nutrition education addresses 3 domains of learning:– Cognitive - presents children with the

“how” of eating more healthfully– Affective - addresses factors that motivate

children to change the way they eat– Behavioral - helps children build new

eating skills and behaviors



• Strategies recommended to promote healthful eating among students in the lower elementary school grades:– Involve parents in nutrition education through

homework or take-home videos.– Provide role models for healthful eating.– Use incentives to reinforce healthful eating.– Identify easy-to-prepare, tasty, and healthful

snacks such as fruits and vegetables.– Increase students’ confidence in their ability

to make healthful eating choices.



• “Five for Kids, Too!” – Developed to teach young children

simple dietary changes that would keep them healthy and also delay the onset of chronic diseases



• Goals and Objectives– Increase daily consumption of fruits and

vegetables among the target audience– Increase awareness of the importance of

fruits and vegetables– Promote willingness to try fruits and

vegetables– Decrease resistance to eating fruits and

vegetables



• Methodology– Year-round activities were designed to

reach children, parents and caregivers– Activities used free materials from industry

and from the American Cancer Society – Supplemented with letters home to parents,

incentive gifts for the children, and a classroom visit from a community nutritionist

– 5-minute instructional videos



• Results– Evaluated through:

• Pre-surveys and post-surveys of parents and children

• Teacher evaluations

– Children• Increase (17% to 87%) in children

answering that they need to eat 5 servings daily



• Results (continued)– Parents

• Higher percentage of children were consuming 3-4 or 5-6 daily servings

• Fewer children were consuming only 1-2 servings• > 2/3 stated that their child was more willing to

taste fruits/vegetables and that the program helped their child and the whole family to eat more fruits/vegetables



• Results (continued)– Teachers

• Generally rated the program very highly• 77% described its effectiveness as

excellent or very good• > 90% stated that they would be willing

to repeat the program



• Lessons Learned– Television is a powerful medium for this age

group.– The program is now designed as a “copy

and collect” project for the teachers—forms are copied, distributed, and later collected—because teachers were more likely to participate if their perceived workload was not increased.


Developing a Nutrition Education Plan

• The nutrition education plan outlines the strategy for disseminating the intervention’s keys messages to the target population.

• Key nutrition messages may be designed to change consumer behavior, as in the “5 a Day for Better Health” message to “Eat five to stay alive.”



• The nutrition education plan is a written document that includes the following:– Needs of the target population.– Goals and objectives for intervention

activities– Program format– Lesson plans



• Written document (continued):– Nutrition messages to be imparted to

the target population– Marketing plan– Any partnerships that will support

program development or delivery– Evaluation instruments




• A nutrition education plan is developed for each intervention target group.

• At the systemic level, the nutritional education plan might properly be called a strategy.


Developing Lesson Plans

• The first step in developing a lesson plan is to know your target audience, the setting, and the content.


Developing Lesson Plans

• Consider these principles when developing lesson plans:– Focus on the learner and their interests,

needs, and motivations.– Relate learning to real-life situations and

give examples that relate directly to the learners’ lives and experiences.

– Actively involve the learners in the learning process because people learn best by doing.


Structuring Your Knowledge

• The first component of lesson writing is to identify the major concept you are communicating.

• Three questions to ask yourself before creating a lesson plan include:– What am I trying to teach?– What are they key concepts?– What methods of inquiry are used – what

teaching method will I use?



Writing Instructional Objectives

• Instructional objectives should:– Concentrate on the learner and not the

teacher.– Clearly communicate a specific instructional

intent.– Be stated in terms of the end-product and

not in terms of the process of learning.– Describe one type of learning outcome per

objective that is specific in describing the learners’ performance.



Components of a Lesson Plan

• Components of a lesson plan include: – Objectives– Body of the lesson– Activities– Evaluation



• Common format used to structure lesson plans:– Lesson title– Target audience– Duration– General objectives or the goal for the class– Specific objectives that identify the

expected learning outcomes using measurable statements



• Common format (continued):– Procedures– Learning experiences or activities– Method of evaluation

• Describes how the instructor will evaluate whether or not the expected outcomes have been achieved

– Materials needed



• Procedures section includes:– Introduction - describes how the

instructor will introduce the class– Body of the lesson - contains the

background and the lesson organization scheme

– Closure - a summary of the lesson


Nutrition Education to Reduce CHD Risk: Case Study 1

• The “Heartworks for Women” program is a health promotion activity designed to help women reduce their CHD risk.

• The senior manager responsible for developing, implementing, and evaluating the intervention.



• Senior manager decides to organize intervention activities into two areas, smoking and nutrition, and each area is assigned to a different team.

• The manager designates a leader for each team.




• The community nutritionist first identifies the target population’s educational needs by reviewing the data obtained during the community needs assessment and by conducting formative evaluation research.



• Set Goals and Objectives– Develop goals and objectives for the

program and to use these to sketch a rough outline of the program sessions.




• Specify the Program Format– The nutritionist now chooses a format for

the program that suits the topic and the amount of information that must be presented.

– The program will consist of 90-minute sessions in which participants will set target dietary goals, try new behaviors, and assess their successes.

– The key strategy will be to seek small behavioral changes.



• Develop Lesson Plans– The nutritionist now considers the

instructional method and chooses to present the material in group sessions, knowing that participants can learn from one another.

– She must also decide whether to use existing educational materials or whether to design her own.




• Specify the Nutrition Messages– Messages should convey a simple,

easy-to-understand concept related to the topic.

– An example of a message would be to “Choose lean cuts of meat.”



• Choose Program Identifiers– The nutritionist chooses the program

name, logo, an action figure, or a tag line, which give the program its own identity.

• Develop a Marketing Plan



• Specify Partnerships– The nutritionist establishes a

partnership with a local grocery store chain to use one of its stores as the setting for one session on shopping for low-fat foods and reading labels.



• Conduct Formative Evaluation– Focus group sessions to test the

dietary messages and program instructional materials.

– Testing the print materials for reading grade level.

– Results of the formative evaluation are used to change and improve program delivery.


Designing Nutrition and Health Messages

• Studies of consumer behavior suggest several ways of designing nutrition messages to grab consumers’ attention...



• Present information in a novel or unusual fashion.

• Use language that says to the consumer “Listen to this. It’s important.”

• Use language that is immediate.• Design messages that use verbs in the

present tense and demonstratives such as this, these and here.



• Avoid using qualifiers such as perhaps, may, and maybe that express uncertainty.

• Use straightforward statements rather than tentative statements.



• The “It’s All About You” campaign was designed to promote positive, simple, and consistent messages to help consumers achieve healthy, active lifestyles.– The campaign is a product of the Dietary

Guidelines Alliance which is a consortium of professional organizations, trade organizations, and the federal government agencies.


Designing Nutrition and Health Messages – “It’s All About You”

• The messages developed by the Alliance were derived from focus group discussions with consumers and a summary of their opinions on effective communications, which included the following...



• “Give it to me straight” – means to use simple, straightforward

language and not technical or scientific jargon.

• “Make it simple and fun” – and provide practical, easy-to- implement

strategies.

• “Explain what’s in it for me” – means to make the benefits of healthy

lifestyles clear.



• “Stop changing your minds” – means to be consistent in making

recommendations.

• “Offer choices” – means that consumers want to be

empowered.


Implementing the Program

• After the program has been designed and tested, it is ready for implementation.

• The goal at this phase is to deliver the program as faithfully as possible.

• Keep a record of any unexpected problems so that a strategy for preventing them can be developed for future programs.


Enhancing Program Participation

• The higher the level of participation in a program the better.



• Ways to improve participation rates include:– Understand the target populations’

needs and interests.– Use evaluation research to improve

the program design.– Remove barriers to participation.



• Ways to improve participation rates (continued):– Find ways to help participants see the

immediate benefits of participating.– Schedule the activity at a convenient time.– Use incentives for participating. – Build ownership of the program among

participants by using slogans, action figures, and logos to enhance the program’s identity.


Conducting Summative Evaluation

• Summative evaluation provides information about the effectiveness of the program and it is conducted at the end of the program.


Conducting Summative Evaluation

• Summative evaluation seeks to obtain data about the participants’ reactions to all aspects of the program:– Topics covered– Instructors or presenters– Instructional materials– Program activities– Physical arrangements for the program– Advertising and promotion– Registration procedures


Entrepreneurship in Nutrition Education

• Creativity and innovation can be applied to many aspects of nutrition education, from the development of action figures to the use of new communications media such as the Internet.

• One approach to motivating consumers and helping them change their behavior is to design effective nutrition messages and programs.


Being an Effective Writer

• Three Basic Rules of Writing– Know what you want to say.– Eliminate clutter.– Edit, edit, edit.



• Reading and Writing– The more you read, the better you

write. – The better you write, the better you

can communicate.– The better you communicate, the

better you inform, inspire, and educate.



• Different Strokes for Different Folks– Some writing requires the formal

language of the scientific method– Some writing is meant to entertain

and inform– Choose an appropriate style, format,

and tone of voice



• Writing for Professional Audiences– Must conform to a more rigorous, traditional

format and style than those aimed at consumers

– Best way to learn how to write = study published articles

• Writing for the General Public– Most important sentence = the first

sentence– Know when to close

Documents

© 2006 Thomson-Wadsworth Chapter 17 Principles of Nutrition Education