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New Resources for Nutrition Educators
WEB SITE
Touching Hearts, Touching Minds.Massachusetts WIC Nutrition Program.Tools and materials for emotion-basednutrition counseling and training video.Available at: http://touchingheartstouchingminds.com. Accessed March 6,2009.
The strategies and materials on this Website differ from traditional nutrition edu-cation approaches. Because emotions—not logic or facts alone—drive behaviors,this new approach represents an excitingopportunity for interacting with peoplethat will lead to behavior change. Thesematerials highlight the emotion-basedbenefits of making eating and activitychanges in addition to the logical, ratio-nal benefits of taking action.
As a nutrition educator, do yousometimes feel frustrated becauseyour client does not appear to be mak-ing any behavioral changes? The prob-lem may be with the delivery of thenutrition message. The TouchingHearts, Touching Minds program chal-lenges educators to view people as‘‘feeling machines that think, ratherthan thinking machines that feel.’’Emotions drive behavior. Behaviorchange is more likely to happenwhen we speak to people’s feelingsand highlight the emotional benefitof taking a health-related action.
The emotion-based materials andcounseling strategies featured on thisWeb site are the result of a USDA pro-ject grant, received by the Massachu-setts WIC Program, to look at waysof revitalizing nutrition education.WIC nutrition educators now havea new repertoire of materials to useas effective behavior change catalysts.Materials were designed to touch theheart first, usually with engagingvisuals, and then to provide the keymessages on which to act. A series of
33 handouts has been developed (inEnglish and Spanish) that coversa range of maternal and child healthtopics that are appropriate for theWIC target audience. Six handoutsfeature recipes. The Web site alsoincludes a link to The WIC Parent Con-nection video. The video demonstratesemotion-based techniques used byreal counselors interacting with par-ents in group discussions.
The Web site is user friendly. Thesite is divided into sections, includingan overview of the project, emotion-based materials, implementationtools, and contact information. Theoverview section includes a discussionof the project’s development, alongwith the benefits of emotion-basedcounseling, implementation tips,and feedback from staff and partici-pants. All 33 color handouts areaccessible as PDF files in the emo-tion-based materials section. In theimplementation tools section, userswill find reprinting guidelines, a linkto a PDF file containing key messagesto accompany the handouts, counsel-ing tips, and a link to a training video.
The emotion-based materials andcounseling strategies will benefit all
nutrition educators, not just thoseemployed in a WIC setting. The mate-rials are within the public domain,making it free for all nutrition profes-sionals to use. It is easy to downloada copy of each of the handouts fromthe Web site. Information is providedon how to obtain printer-friendly filesfor all of the emotion-based materials,as well as on how to obtain materialsavailable in other languages. A freecopy of the video also may be re-quested for training purposes.
Even though the materials are freeto download, the cost of printer car-tridges and paper to print multiplecopies may be prohibitive to somenutrition professionals. And, althoughmost individuals/agencies have accessto the Internet, those who do notwould find it difficult to access thesevaluable resources. The recipes featuredon snacks, breakfast, beans, beef,chicken, and pork are quick and easy,perfect for the busy WIC mom. Butthis section possibly could be en-hanced by including fruit and vegeta-ble recipes as well as recipes thatfeature WIC food (besides beans).
Overall, the Touching Hearts, Touch-ing Minds emotion-based materialsand counseling strategies come highlyrecommended for all nutrition educa-tors who are looking to revitalize theirnutrition education efforts and renewtheir passion for positive behavioraloutcomes in their clients.
Laura Graney, MS, RD, CD, CBE, She-boygan County WIC Project Nutritionist,1011 N. 8th St, Sheboygan, WI 53081
doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2008.09.006
Cite this article as: Graney L.Touching Hearts, Touching Minds.WIC Parent Connections TrainingMaterials and Video [New Re-sources for Nutrition Educators]. JNutr Educ Behav 2009;41:229.e1.
229.e1
Inclusion of any material in this section does not imply endorsement by the Society forNutrition Education. Evaluative comments contained in the reviews reflect the views of theauthors. Review abstracts are either prepared by the reviewer or extracted from the productliterature. Prices quoted are those provided by the publishers at the time materials weresubmitted. They may not be current when the review is published.J Nutr Educ Behav. 2009;41:229.e1�2009 SOCIETY FOR NUTRITION EDUCATION
Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior � Volume 41, Number 3, 2009