Question

case study

You are a nutrition consultant who specializes in developing nutrition education materials. You have recently been hired as a consultant for the local Agency on Aging to develop a new nutrition education program for use at local congregate feeding programs. The setting is urban, and the audience is ethnically diverse (primarily African American and Latino). Nutrition education activities take place once a month at congregate feeding sites. In your first contract, you are asked to develop lesson plans for four months of nutrition programming (four lessons delivered once a month). Each lesson will be approximately 20 minutes in length and will take place right before the midday meal service.

In this case study, you will use literature and formative evaluation data to develop topics and objectives for the four lessons. Then, you will develop a full outline for one selected lesson. Throughout this text, you have learned about three levels of intervention in communities:

• Level 1: Build awareness
• Level 2: Change lifestyles
• Level 3: Create a supportive environment

As you are working on this case study, remember to include strategies that address each of the three levels of intervention.

To prepare, investigate the Older Americans Act Nutrition Program and review the Client-Centered Nutrition Education materials available on the Texas Department of State Health Services website athttp://texaswic.dshs.state.tx.us/wiclessons/WICRef/DieteticInternship/pdf_text_nov-dec.html. Look elsewhere for additional research articles that discuss effective nutrition education strategies used at congregate feeding sites.

After reviewing the literature, you decide to use formative assessment methods to help you understand the audience. First, you review recent nutrition screening checklists collected at the local congregate feeding sites. You notice that about 30% of program participants have either diabetes or heart disease. You also notice that about 25% of participants report problems chewing food. Food diaries are available for a subsample of participants, and you notice high intakes of grains, fruits, and vegetables, and low intakes of dairy and protein foods.

After reviewing the checklists and food diaries, you decide to visit several feeding sites and informally talk to participants to learn more about their nutrition-related knowledge, beliefs, values, and behaviors. In your interviews, you learn that many participants know they should eat more protein and consume more fluids, but they have not been successful in changing these behaviors. Participants report being inactive and express little motivation for changing their activity levels. Lastly, participants are concerned about their health-related quality of life. Participants report needing simple-to-implement nutrition tips, and enjoy sharing their life experiences in educational settings. They express positive impacts of participation in the congregate meals program, indicating they enjoy both the food and the social atmosphere.

1. What else would you want to know about your audience? Make a list of additional information you would like to gather, and indicate how you would gather it.

2.First, create a name for your program. Then, determine a topic for each of the four lessons. Write a goal for each of the four lessons.

3. include an objective aimed at creating awareness about the need for fluids, particularly among older adults.

4. Create three learning objectives for one of your proposed lessons.

5. Create a lesson plan, with time, topics, content, practical activities, and materials needed to accomplish the objectives. For each activity, indicate whether it is intended to build awareness (intervention level 1), change lifestyles (intervention level 2), or create a supportive environment (intervention level 3), remembering to integrate all three levels into your plan.

6. For each objective in your lesson plan, indicate how you will evaluate it.