A whole-food plant-based experiential education program for health care providers results in personal and professional changes.

Diet-related diseases are the primary contributor to morbidity and mortality. The risk for these diseases can be reduced with a whole-food plant-based (WFPB) diet, but most people are never counseled on this dietary pattern. An experiential education program was designed and conducted in which sample of 30 nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and physicians learned about and followed a WFPB diet for 3 weeks. The objective was for the health care providers to increase their knowledge and acceptance of WFPB diets and increase their likelihood of counseling patients on this dietary pattern. Participants completed preintervention and postintervention questionnaires assessing dietary intake, knowledge, weight, mood, energy, benefits, barriers, self-efficacy, and likelihood of continuing to follow, or counsel patients about a WFPB diet. Participants decreased intake of animal-derived foods, increased intake of WFPB foods, had improvements in mood and energy, and lost weight. Perceived barriers to following and counseling about a WFPB diet declined and self-efficacy improved. Participants were likely to continue a WFPB diet and discuss the diet with their patients. The three-week intervention changed providers' knowledge, skills, and attitudes about WFPB diets. If nurse practitioners and other providers accept WFPB diets, more patients may be educated on this dietary pattern, helping to reduce the burden of diet-related chronic diseases.

Potential Use of Classroom Response Systems (CRS, Clickers) in Foods, Nutrition, and Dietetics Higher Education.

Although hundreds of articles have been published about the use of classroom response systems (CRS, clickers) in higher education, few address the use in foods, nutrition, and dietetics courses, especially upper-division, major courses. This technology has the potential to increase student engagement, motivation, assessment, and, possibly, learning. Thoughtfully designed questions may stimulate discussions, especially about challenging nutrition topics. This article presents the viability and potential benefits for the use of CRS in foods, nutrition, and dietetics classes through a brief literature summary, overview of the author's experiences, and guidance for implementing this technology.

Formative research and strategic development of a physical activity component to a social marketing campaign for obesity prevention in preschoolers.

The prevalence of overweight in childhood, including preschoolers, continues to rise. While efforts focusing on school-aged children are encouraging, obesity prevention programs to address nutrition and physical activity in the child care center are lacking. Food Friends is a successfully evaluated nutrition program aimed at enhancing preschoolers' food choices, the addition of a physical activity program would improve the programs overall efforts to establish healthful habits early in life. This study describes the formative research conducted with secondary influencers of preschoolers-teachers and parents-for the development of a physical activity program. Key informant interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with preschool teachers and parents, respectively, to examine current physical activity practices, as well as attitudes, opinions, and desired wants and needs for physical activity materials. Findings illustrate that teachers provided physical activity; however, most did not use a structured program. Teachers identified time, space and equipment as barriers to providing activity in their classroom. Focus group findings identified activities of preschoolers', parents' perceptions of the adequacy of activity levels, and items to help parents engage their children in more physical activity. Barriers were also identified by parents and included time, safety, inclement weather, and lack of knowledge and self-efficacy. Findings from this formative research were used to develop a marketing strategy to guide the development of a physical activity component, Food Friends Get Movin' with Mighty Moves , as part of a larger social marketing campaign aimed to decrease the risk for obesity in low-income preschoolers.

Comparative validation of a bilingual interactive multimedia dietary assessment tool.

OBJECTIVE: To perform comparative validity testing for a bilingual interactive multimedia (IMM) dietary assessment tool that mimics a dietary recall against an interview-administered dietary recall. DESIGN: This was a two-period crossover design study. First, participants were randomly assigned to complete an IMM recall or interview-administered 24-hour recall. The IMM recall generated a nutrient profile that included 20 dietary constituents. The interview-administered recall was analyzed using the Food Intake Analysis System (FIAS) and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) Evaluating/Reporting System. The effect of substituting standardized portion sizes for reported portion sizes was examined. SUBJECTS/SETTING: Of 80 adult participants, 71 (91%) were female, 45 (56%) had 12th grade or less education, 65 (81%) had an annual income of dollar 15,000 or less, and 21 (26%) completed the IMM recall in Spanish. STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED: Analysis of variance and unadjusted and energy-adjusted correlations were used. RESULTS: No significant group differences were found for order of administration or demographic characteristics. There was only one significant (P=.025) method effect, whereby vitamin C intake was higher in the IMM recall than the FIAS. The unadjusted correlations between the IMM recalls and interview-administered recalls analyzed using both FIAS and EFNEP Evaluating/Reporting System were generally approximately 0.6. Energy-adjusted correlations were consistently lower. Substituting standardized portion sizes resulted in significant differences for six nutrients and caused all correlations to decrease. CONCLUSIONS: The IMM dietary recall is a valid method for assessing dietary intake within the tested group. The results of comparative validity testing and positive reactions received from participants and nutrition educators indicate that diet assessment using IMM has tremendous potential.

Using computer-based assessments to evaluate interactive multimedia nutrition education among low-income predominantly Hispanic participants.

OBJECTIVE: This research was conducted to measure the effectiveness of interactive multimedia (IMM) with low-income Hispanic persons. DESIGN: The effectiveness of the program was examined using a quasi-experimental pretest/post-test control group design. SETTING: Subjects were recruited from nutrition, health, and English as a Second Language (ESL) programs in Colorado. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-six intervention and 34 control participants formed a convenience sample of low-income and predominantly Hispanic persons. INTERVENTION: Intervention participants received a 15-minute module about breakfast. Control participants received a non- nutrition-related IMM module. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary variables included knowledge, attitude, and stage of change scores. ANALYSIS: Paired and independent sample t tests, chi-square analysis, and repeated-measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were used. RESULTS: Intervention participants significantly increased knowledge, attitude, and total scores (P <.001) between pretest and post-test and had significantly greater increases than the control group (P <.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results support using IMM to disseminate nutrition education to the target population and the feasibility of using computer-based questionnaires to evaluate the effectiveness of IMM nutrition education programs. IMPLICATIONS: This research provides the basis for the continued development of computer-based assessment tools.

Economic analysis of bilingual interactive multimedia nutrition education.

CONTEXT: Interactive multimedia (IMM) provides a means to deliver accurate, consistent, and convenient nutrition education. OBJECTIVE: To compare direct costs of bilingual IMM and peer nutrition education methods. DESIGN: Cost per unit of nutrition education for each delivery method was calculated. SETTING: Touch-screen computer kiosk systems in food assistance programs. PARTICIPANTS: Approximately 727 low-income and Hispanic persons. INTERVENTION: Bilingual IMM and nutrition education classes taught by peer educators. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cost per unit of nutrition education delivered. ANALYSIS: Descriptive: to compare costs and determine break-even points. RESULTS: Initially, costs for both methods dropped and then nearly leveled for the peer method at a break-even point of 633 units, whereas those for IMM continued to decrease. CONCLUSIONS: Interactive multimedia is a cost-effective method of delivering nutrition education, especially to large numbers of people. IMPLICATIONS: Use of this technology could reach additional low-income persons at decreasing costs.