An Introduction to Concepts of Nutrition: Facilitator's Handbook A Facilitated Coursebook Designed for Foundation and Community Learning (original) (raw)

Chapter -4 Nutrition Education

Book: Advances in Nutrition, 2022

The process of teaching nutritional science to an individual or community is called Nutrition Education. India has a unique double burden of malnutrition as a result of fast economic change, including increased urbanisation, dietary transition, and a sedentary lifestyle. The goals of Nutrition Education are to improve the quality of life and contribute to the health promotion of the population in the community where programmes and services are offered by promoting appropriate lifestyles connected to food consumption patterns. Government and various other agencies have also launched a number of health and nutrition education programs. Nutrition education focuses on the development of long-term behavioural changes rather than knowledge and facts. This is the art of nutrition education: breaking down a large body of information into small, achievable steps. Nutrition Education takes place in a multitude of settings, through a variety of channels and with several different tools and materials. Improved physical health, academic achievement, increased nutrition knowledge, self-efficacy etc. are the nutrition education benefits at individual level and at the community level. However, there is a need of initiatives to be taken to create impact and improve Nutrition Education.

Food and Nutrition

Reiss, M. J. (2019) Food and nutrition. In: Rethinking Biology: Public Understandings, Reiss, M. J., Watts, F. & Wiseman, H. (Eds), World Scientific, New Jersey, pp. 213-230., 2019

What we eat is core to our health, how we understand ourselves and a substantial part of our enjoyment in life. Yet today’s diets differ greatly from those that we evolved to have. Furthermore, public understanding of nutrition is not strong and, for many people, there are major mismatches between what they would like to eat and what they actually consume, both in terms of amount and quality. In this chapter, I begin by describing the diets that were typical in our evolutionary past, explaining how they differ from those that are increasingly common today. Then, I examine what is meant by ‘a good diet’, broadening the notion from a narrow focus on physical health. I also look at how official advice about diet is sometimes less secure than is admitted and examine the current state of knowledge about fats and carbohydrates in our diet. I conclude by examining what good education about nutrition might entail both in schools and for adults, considering the role of food in identity and culture as well as in nutrition.

Nutrition UP65 educational strategies: health professionals qualification course

2019

INTRODUCTION: Nutrition knowledge among health professionals has a major impact on older adults' healthcare. However, there is a lack of specialized education offer in this area. Within the Nutrition UP 65 Project, a health professional's qualification nutrition course was created and implemented from April 2015 to April 2017. We aim to describe this process here. METHODOLOGY: At Faculdade de Ciências da Nutrição e Alimentação da Universidade do Porto, a course of twenty-seven hours was created by six professors. The course comprises eight hours of direct contact and nineteen hours of individual study and was accredited by the University of Porto and credited with one European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). Educational materials and presentations for each session were produced including posters and flyers. A final test was developed to evaluate attendee's knowledge. Approximately 10% of national health units were identified, randomly selected in each country regional area (NUTS II-"Nomenclatura Comum das Unidades Territoriais para Fins Estatísticos") and invited to participate. RESULTS: Thirty-five course editions were carried out by twenty-three Porto University accredited instructors for 784 professionals from 241 different health units. Concerning the knowledge evaluation, a 99% approval rate was achieved and the average mark score was of 16.8 out of 20. Course satisfaction survey revealed that 45.7% of the participants classified the course as "good" and 41.1% as "very good". CONCLUSIONS: The overall balance of this branch of the Nutrition UP 65 project is very positive. The results on health professional's adherence demonstrate that the interest in this area of nutrition care is high and that this nutrition course is a good opportunity to expand access to specialized education. This highlights the need for further initiatives promoting educational sessions targeting nutrition topics. These course sessions must be acknowledged as a starting point to a new approach in older adult's nutrition knowledge in Portugal. KEYWORDS Health education, Health personnel, Health services for the elderly, Nutrition RESUMO INTRODUÇÃO: O conhecimento sobre nutrição dos profissionais de saúde tem um grande impacto na saúde dos indivíduos idosos. No entanto, há escassez de oferta de educação especializada nessa área. O Projeto Nutrition UP 65 foi criado e implementado a nível nacional um curso de qualificação em nutrição para profissionais de saúde, que decorreu entre abril de 2015 e abril de 2017. Pretende-se descrever aqui este processo. METODOLOGIA: Na Faculdade de Ciências da Nutrição e Alimentação da Universidade do Porto, seis professores elaboraram um curso de vinte e sete horas. Este curso é composto por oito horas de contacto direto e dezanove horas de estudo individual e foi acreditado e creditado pela Universidade do Porto com um European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). Foram produzidos materiais didáticos e apresentações, bem como cartazes e desdobráveis informativos. Desenvolveu-se uma prova final para avaliar os conhecimentos dos participantes. Cerca de 10% das unidades de saúde nacionais foram identificadas, selecionadas aleatoriamente em cada área regional (NUTS II) e convidadas a participar. RESULTADOS: Realizaram-se 35 edições do curso para 784 profissionais de 241 unidades de saúde diferentes por 23 instrutores credenciados pela Universidade do Porto. No teste de avaliação obteve-se uma taxa de aprovação de 99% e uma pontuação média de 16,8 em 20 valores. 45,7% dos participantes classificaram o curso como "bom" e 41,1% como "muito bom". CONCLUSÕES: O balanço global desta vertente do Projeto Nutrition UP 65 é muito positivo. Os resultados da adesão dos profissionais de saúde demonstram que o interesse por esta área da intervenção nutricional é elevado e que este curso é uma boa oportunidade para expandir o acesso à formação especializada. Assim, destaca-se a necessidade de outras iniciativas que promovam sessões de formação voltadas para tópicos nutricionais. Estas sessões de formação devem ser reconhecidas como um ponto de partida para uma nova abordagem no conhecimento nutricional dos idosos em Portugal.

Nutrition education: linking research, theory, and practice

Nutrition education:linking research, theory and practice, 2008

The increase in obesity and chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease worldwide reflects the complex interactions of biology, personal behaviour and environment. Consequently there has been a greater recognition of the importance of nutrition education. An analysis of the evidence from 300+ studies shows that nutrition education is more likely to be effective when it focuses on behaviour/ action (rather than knowledge only) and systematically links theory, research and practice. There are three essential components to nutrition education: 1. A motivational component, where the goal is to increase awareness and enhance motivation by addressing beliefs, attitudes through effective communication strategies. 2. An action component, where the goal is to facilitate people's ability to take action through goal setting and cognitive self-regulation skills. 3. An environmental component, where nutrition educators work with policymakers and others to promote environmental supports for action. Each component needs to be based on appropriate theory and research. The procedure for program design can use the logic model: Inputs are the resources needed as well as the needs analysis process. The outputs are the activities within the three components of nutrition education described above. Here the be-havioural focus is selected and theory and research are used to design appropriate educational strategies to achieve the targeted behaviours. The outcomes are the short, medium or long-term impacts of the nutrition program. These are evaluated through the use of appropriate designs and instruments. Nutrition education programs that link research, theory, and practice are more likely to be effective. INTRODUCTION The increase in obesity and chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease worldwide reflects the complex interactions of biology, personal behavior and the environment. As shown in Figure 1, people's food choices are influenced by many factors: 1,2 (a) Biologically determined behavioral predispositions include humans' liking at birth for sweet and dislike for bitter and sour, hunger/ satiety mechanisms, and sensory specific satiety. (b) Experience with food. Humans have the capacity to learn to like foods through associative conditioning, both physiological and social. Young children overcome their fear of new foods (neopho-bia) through repeated experience with new foods, offered by the family and often reflecting cultural preferences, leading to familiarity. These two sets of influences are sensory-affective in nature and contribute greatly to peo-ple's food preferences. (c) Personal factors. Intra-person factors such as beliefs, attitudes, knowledge and skills and social norms, and inter-personal factors such as families and social networks also influence our food choices. (d) Environmental factors powerfully influence peoples' food-related behaviors as well. Food availability and accessibility as well as the social environment and cultural practices, material resources, and food marketing practices either facilitate or hinder individuals being able to act on their beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge about healthful eating. All of these influences interact with each other dynamically.

Qualitative research in nutrition and dietetics: getting started

Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 2010

Qualitative research is well placed to answer complex questions about foodrelated behaviour because it investigates how and why individuals act in certain ways. The field of qualitative health research is undoubtedly gaining momentum and, increasingly, there is a recognition that it should be a vital part of the decision-making processes that direct the development of health policy and practice. Much of the guidance available, however, is difficult to navigate for those new to 'qualitative research', and there is little discussion of qualitative research issues specifically in relation to nutrition and dietetics. This review, the first in a series, outlines the field of qualitative enquiry, its potential usefulness in nutrition and dietetics, and how to embark upon this type of research. Furthermore, it describes a process to guide high-quality qualitative research in this area that proceeds from the research question(s) and considers the key philosophical assumptions about ontology, epistemology and methodology that underpin the overall design of a study. Other reviews in this series provide an overview of the principal techniques of data collection and sampling, data analysis, and quality assessment of qualitative work, and provide some practical advice relevant to nutrition and dietetics, along with glossaries of key terms.