The use and perceptions of concept mapping as a learning tool by dietetic internship students and preceptors.

Critical thinking and problem solving skills are currently emphasis areas in the education of allied health professionals. Use of concept maps to teach these skills have been utilized primarily in nursing and medical education, but little has been published about their use in dietetics education. Therefore the purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential efficacy of concept mapping as a learning tool for nutrition assessment among dietetic interns and its acceptability by internship preceptors. Nineteen dietetic interns and 31 preceptors participated in a quasi-experimental pre-/post-design in which the concept mapping strategy was taught as a replacement for the traditional nutrition care plan. The pre-concept map mean score was significantly lower than the post-concept mean score (28.35 vs. 117.96; p=0.001) based on the Student t-test, thus indicating improved critical thinking skills as evidenced through concept mapping. Overall students' perceptions of concept mapping as a teaching-learning method were more positive than the preceptors' perceptions. In conclusion, internship preceptors and dietetic interns perceived concept mapping as effective in assisting interns to engage in critical thinking, to problem solve, and understand relationships among medical nutrition therapy concepts. However, preceptors had more negative attitudes toward concept mapping than the dietetic interns related to time and effort to complete and evaluate the concept map.

Conducting needs assessment using the comprehensive participatory planning and evaluation model to develop nutrition and physical activity interventions in a rural community in the Mississippi delta.

BACKGROUND: Members of a Lower Mississippi Delta community and university partners used the Comprehensive Participatory Planning and Evaluation (CPPE) model to assess nutrition and health problems and develop a menu of interventions. OBJECTIVES: We sought to identify and prioritize nutrition and physical activity problems in the community and to identify interventions to address the problems. METHODS: Community members and university partners used the CPPE process to identify and prioritize nutrition and physical activity problems. The participants developed causal models to break down the identified problems to their root causes. They then developed a menu of interventions and criteria to rank the interventions. RESULTS: The identified problems were intake of unhealthy foods, lack of nutrition education, and lack of adequate physical activity. The menu of interventions consisted of seven objectives to address poor nutrition and physical activity as well as a total of 19 interventions to meet these objectives. CONCLUSION: Directly involving community members in identifying health problems and solutions results in the development of interventions that are likely to have greater acceptability with the community.

Fit for life steps: results of a community walking intervention in the rural Mississippi delta.

BACKGROUND: A collaborative community--university--U.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA)/Agricultural Research Service (ARS) partnership developed and implemented a 6-month walking intervention whereby volunteer coaches were trained to lead community walking groups in a rural Mississippi Delta Community. OBJECTIVE: Assess the feasibility of implementing community-based participatory research (CBPR), increase physical activity, and improve anthropometric and biological measures. METHODS: This quasi-experimental design examined body mass index, percent body fat, waist circumference, blood pressure, blood glucose, lipid profile, self-reported walking, stages of change, social support, self-efficacy, and decisional balance at enrollment, 3 months, and 6 months. Participants were primarily African-American (99%) women (97%). Changes were evaluated using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Friedman's test. RESULTS: Community members actively participated in assessing the problem, identifying the intervention, intervention planning, data collection, and evaluation. Of the 83 enrolled participants, 66 (80%) completed the intervention. Participants exhibited significant improvements in waist circumference (-1.4 inches), systolic blood pressure (-4.3 mmHg), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (+7.9 mg/dL); (PA