How to Make Nutrition Education More Meaningful Through Facilitated Group Discussions
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Challenges of Nutrition Education
Educating the general public about nutrition is challenging for several reasons. First, because every client has a vast amount of unique experience and knowledge about food and nutrition, nutrition educators have to contend with a large, complex framework of information meaningful to the client. This information, however, is often fraught with misconceptions and gaps in knowledge. Second, dietary behavior is complex. A person's dietary intake for any given day is the cumulative result of
Philosophical Approaches to Community Practice
The process of enhancing people's quality of life, improving their health, and encouraging them to make their own choices and decisions involves complex power relations between professionals and their clients (3). Schalock (4) postulated that quality of life increases as people are more capable of making decisions that affect their lives. Thus, to promote the health of clients dietetics professionals need to develop their sense of control and confidence (both essential components of
Conducting Facilitated Group Discussions
Facilitated group discussions are a client-centered, interactive form of education wherein learners share their problems, knowledge, and experience with other group members through discussion (1). Nutrition topics discussed are similar to those addressed in conventional nutrition education lectures. The basis for the technique of facilitated group discussions, however, is that the educator (who becomes the group facilitator), rather than lecturing, encourages clients to discuss freely among
The Facilitator's Role
The facilitator's actions make or break the group discussion. The word facilitate is the Latin derivative of “to enable, to make easy” (11), which is clearly the goal in a facilitated group discussion. Kaneretal (15) stated that the facilitator's job is “to support everyone to do their best thinking. To do this, the facilitator encourages full participation, promotes mutual understanding and cultivates shared responsibility” (p 32, original emphasis).
An important part of a facilitator's role is
Evaluation of Facilitated Group Discussions
It is imperative to evaluate the effectiveness of facilitated group discussions. In fields other than nutrition, group discussions have been shown to be more effective than the traditional lecture or one-on-one approaches (2), (18), (23), (24) used in classroom and community settings. In 1996, a research study was conducted to evaluate the use of facilitated group discussions in New Mexico WIC clinics (25). Qualitatively, when the lecture approach was compared with the facilitated-type
Applications
Public health nutrition programs, such as WIC, are constantly being challenged to operate at higher levels of technical competence and efficiency (27). Given limited financial resources and rising numbers of clients, it has become critical for program administrators to deliver meaningful, high-quality nutrition education coupled with cost-effective use of resources (27). Facilitated group discussions offer WIC participants the chance to take an active role in the learning process and to share
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Cited by (41)
Position of the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior: Nutrition Educator Competencies for Promoting Healthy Individuals, Communities, and Food Systems: Rationale and Application
2023, Journal of Nutrition Education and BehaviorCitation Excerpt :Community nutrition education programs in the US such as Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program,125 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education,126 and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children127 and those in many other countries3,6,23,128 that serve large targeted communities encourage participatory approaches. Thus, effective group facilitation skills will enable nutrition educators to implement such approaches by promoting respectful group discussion and dialog and creating a safe learning environment with hands-on activities that assist the target audience in identifying personal needs, sharing experiences, setting goals, and managing personal food behaviors.129–132 Increasingly, nutrition educators are implementing these skills through technology-based programs.
Use of a mixed-method approach to evaluate the implementation of retention promotion strategies in the New York State WIC program
2017, Evaluation and Program PlanningTalk, Heart, Hands: A Culturally Sensitive Approach to Nutrition Education for Latinos With Young Children
2016, Journal of Nutrition Education and BehaviorOptimizing Nutrition Education in WIC: Findings From Focus Groups With Arizona Clients and Staff
2016, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior