Parental perceptions of nutritional intake, cooking skills, and food skills among preschoolers.

Objective: To determine parents' perceptions of cooking skills, food skills, and nutritional status of children ages 3 to 5 years. Methods: Parents of preschoolers aged 3 to 5 years completed two questionnaires, a Nutri-STEP questionnaire, assessing nutritional status, and a cooking exposure questionnaire. This parent recall questionnaire assessed cooking skills and food skills children possessed. Results: Willingness to try a new vegetable, parental confidence of child's cooking skills, total food skills possessed, and the covariates of gender, age, and ethnicity significantly predicted child dietary quality grouping p = 0.04. Conclusions and Implications: Trying new vegetables was a significant predictor of dietary behavior, with children more likely to try new vegetables demonstrating better dietary behavior (odds ratio= .43, p = 0.03). Trends showed that children with more cooking skills had better diets. Empirical data are needed through experimental designs to examine the integration of cooking skills in the home on child dietary behaviors and long-term cooking development.

The Exploration of the Eating Experience in Adults with Celiac Disease: A Phenomenological Qualitative Study.

BACKGROUND: The adjustment to a strict gluten-free diet for adults diagnosed with celiac disease (CD) may lead to changes in the eating experience affecting the physical, social, and emotional states. OBJECTIVE: Through the application of the Social Cognitive Transition Model of Adjustment, the aim of the study was to explore the adjustment in the eating experience in adults recently diagnosed with CD and transitioning to a gluten-free diet. DESIGN: This was a qualitative phenomenological study conducted using semistructured interviews. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Seventeen adults from the midwestern United States who were diagnosed with CD between 6 months and 5 years before the study were recruited using social media CD sites and snowball sampling. Participants completed a semistructured interview on Zoom and the Celiac Disease Adherence Test and CeliacQ-7 questionnaires from May to November 2020. STATISTICA ANALYSES PERFORMED: Two trained qualitative researchers engaged in four steps to reduce and contextualize the data: horizontilization, reduction and elimination, clustering and thematizing, and composition of textural description. During analysis, the Social Cognitive Transition Model of Adjustment was incorporated for organization of themes and text description. RESULTS: There was moderate to high dietary adherence in 14 of 17 participants and quality of life scores ranged from 19 to 43 (median = 33). Five themes emerged aligning with Social Cognitive Transition Model of Adjustment, describing the adjustment in pre- and postdiagnosis eating experience and the coping and behaviors enacted during adjustment to a gluten-free diet. CONCLUSIONS: In individuals with CD, moving beyond problem solving and identifying psychosocial and emotional attributes in the adoption of a gluten-free diet need to be considered to promote maintenance of quality of life and dietary adherence.

Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and vascular function in Hispanic and non-Hispanic males.

Introduction: Hispanic men have one of the highest consumptions of sugar-sweetened beverages in the United States. Frequent sugar-sweetened beverage consumption has been associated with higher incidence of cardiovascular disease through altered vascular function. Cardiovascular disease is the second leading cause of death in the Hispanic population. The purpose of this study is to assess the difference in vascular function between Hispanic men and non-Hispanic men and whether this difference is attributed to ethnic predisposition (i.e. ethnicity) or other risk factors, such as sugar-sweetened beverage consumption. Method: Reactive hyperemia forearm blood flow of 11 Hispanic males and 11 non-Hispanic males was measured via venous occlusion plethysmography. Interview-administered questionnaires gathered anthropometric, medical, dietary, and physical activity data for participants. Results: No significant differences were found in peak or total reactive hyperemia forearm blood flow between matched pairs (p = 0.924). Significant differences were also not observed in dietary factors, sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (p = 0.693), or physical activity (0.720). Conclusion: No statistical differences in body composition, dietary intake, physical activity, and vascular function were observed between Hispanic and non-Hispanic males. Environmental and lifestyle factors may play a larger role than ethnicity in the development of cardiovascular disease. Recruitment based on ethnicity alone yielded a population that was similar regarding SSB consumption and vascular function.

Using the PRECEDE-PROCEED model to assess dietary needs in the Hispanic population in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Research shows that as Hispanic immigrants spend more time in the United States and/or become more assimilated to the U.S. culture their diet begins to mimic that of a Western diet. A dietary needs assessment was conducted in the target population of low income, first-generation Hispanics in the greater Scranton, PA, area to identify nutrition problems and inform culturally appropriate nutrition intervention development. The PRECEDE-PROCEED model was used to guide the assessment. Interviews with key informants and a focus group as well as demographic and dietary-related questionnaires were completed with the target population to identify health and nutrition needs in the community and factors regarding dietary behaviors. Behavioral and environmental objectives were developed and led to a culturally tailored nutrition intervention.

Perceptions of community-based participatory research in the Delta Nutrition Intervention Research Initiative: an academic perspective.

Lower Mississippi Delta Nutrition Intervention Research Initiative (Delta NIRI) is an academic-community partnership between seven academic institutions and three communities in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana. A range of community-based participatory methods have been used to develop sustainable nutrition intervention strategies. Focus groups were conducted with 22 faculty and staff members from the academic partners on the project to document their perceptions of community-based participatory processes in a federally funded, multi-academic-community partnership spanning a decade. Focus groups were conducted to glean insights or lessons from the experiences of academic personnel. Focus groups were transcribed and analyzed using the constant comparative method. Two researchers analyzed each transcript independently and reached consensus on the consistent themes. Participants candidly shared their experiences of working with community members to devise research plans, implement programs, and evaluate outcomes. The majority of faculty and staff members were attracted to this project by an excitement for conducting a more egalitarian and potentially more successful type of research. Yet each academic partner voiced that there was an underlying disconnect between community practices and research procedures during the project. Additional barriers to collaboration and action, located in communities and academic institutions, were described. Academic partners stressed the importance of open and ongoing communication, collective decision-making strategies, and techniques that support power sharing between all parties involved in the project. Findings from this research can inform academic-community partnerships and hopefully improve the community-based participatory research process implemented by academic institutions and communities.

Capacity building for health through community-based participatory nutrition intervention research in rural communities.

Since its inception, capacity building has been a stated goal of the Delta Nutrition Intervention Research Initiative, a tri-state collaboration in the Lower Mississippi Delta to address high rates of chronic disease. Textual analysis of project documents identifies and describes strategies carried out to foster capacity building. Strategies to build community capacity include fostering participation, cultivating leadership opportunities, training community members as co-researchers, securing community resources, and implementing the intervention together. Incorporating capacity-building approaches in health promotion and nutrition-intervention programming in rural communities provides a means to enhance potential for sustainability of health outcomes and developed effectiveness.