Nutrition Education For You!
Nutrition Education For You!
Tips on how to eat healthy on a budget.
Jessica L. Marich
Rowan University
Nutrition Education For You!
Executive Summary:
The Nutrition Education for You program worked with individuals of Salem County who
were considered low-income individuals. This work shop was basically a pretest that tested 10
clients for starters. The clients were some friends and family, and random individuals that I did
not know. The goals of the Nutrition Education for You program, were: present the importance
of nutrition to low-income families in Salem County and to improve Low-income families of
Salem County nutritious food selection. These goals are important to the program. This program
has guided the participants towards a nutritious lifestyle, by providing nutrition education
workshop to the participants. The program was conducted at a social hall by myself. This
program was about promoting nutrition education to low-income families through education. The
intervention was suited for the low-income members of Salem County.
Program Rationale:
The USDA did a study to figure out how much it would cost a week for produce for a
family. The results show $2-$2.50 per person per day would buy enough produce for the Dietary
Guidelines for Americans. For a family of four, it would cost about $70 a week just for produce,
which a lot of low income families cannot afford. When income is scarce, families’ food budget
gets smaller, causing them to buy cheaper foods. Low income families buy more processed foods
like sugary cereals, white bread, and canned goods. Most of their produce consist of potatoes,
canned vegetables and beans. Energy dense sweets and fats are easier for low income families
because they don’t require a lot of work to make and they are also cheaper (Drewnowski and
Eichelsdoerfer 2010).
Nutrition Education For You!
According to FRAC, “Low-income neighborhoods frequently lack full-service grocery
stores and farmers’ markets where residents can buy a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains,
and low-fat dairy products.” Individuals in these low-income neighborhoods are limited to
convenience stores, and small shops, that mostly filled with high energy dense foods. These
energy dense foods cost less but, they contribute to the growing problem of poor nutrition.
According to Drenowsiki and Specter, “Obesity rates in the United States have risen
sharply over the past 2 decades. By 1990–2000, 64% of adults aged ≥ 20 were classified as
overweight and 30% were classified as obese.” Obesity and type 2 diabetes are dependent on a
person’s socioeconomic status and nutrition. Individuals with limited resources such as nutritious
foods, money, and healthcare are more prone to develop obesity and other disease. Due to the
links between low-income families and poor nutrition habits, it seems as if there is a need for a
program that will educate low-income families about nutrition, and budgeting their income to fit
in the healthier food options.
I took some pretest surveys of families in a low-income neighborhood. According to my
surveys 80% of participants said that healthy eating is too expensive. 60% of the participants said
that budgeting money is too hard as well. 60% of the participants also said that they don’t think
good nutrition can prevent illness and diseases. A solution to these results would be a program to
educate nutrition to these families. Therefore I proposed a nutrition education program which
focuses on the low-income population, to increase their knowledge of nutrition and teach them
how to eat healthy on a budget. This program will decrease poor nutrition and disease/illness
risks.
Needs Assessment
Nutrition Education For You!
When the needs assessment was performed, I collected data from surveys done by
families of low income. The four steps that I took were: 1. determined the current status of low
income families in Salem County. 2. Analyzed the data that I collected. 3. Prioritized the needs
expressed by the families and the public health department. 4. Validated the prioritized needs of
low income families of Salem County (McKenzie, Neiger, Thackeray 2013, 50).
To determine the current health status of low income families, I used the PRECEDE
model that focuses on these 5 diagnosis: 1. Social diagnosis 2. Epidemiological diagnosis 3.
Environmental/ Behavioral diagnosis 4. Educational/ Organizational diagnosis 5. Administrative
diagnosis (McKenzie, et al., 2013 53-55). First, for the social diagnosis of low income families
of Salem County, I studied the quality of life. This was done by handing out surveys to different
families of Salem County. The survey questions focused on the factors associated with eating
habits in the home.
Second, I figured out the health status of these families with the epidemiological
diagnosis. This was done by surveys about the number of low income families and the number of
health complications of those families.
Third, the environmental/behavioral diagnosis was determined in the surveys that were
handed out. The questions about the environment and behavioral aspects focused on the families’
food budgets, and availability of fresh nutritious foods in Salem County.
Fourth, the educational/ organizational diagnosis was done by figuring out the
predisposing factors, enabling factor, and the reinforcing factors (McKenzie et al., 2013 54).
These factors were determined by the surveys done by the low income families. The
predisposing factors that low income families had are that they may not have good enough
Nutrition Education For You!
knowledge of the benefits of nutritious eating. The enabling factors were that the unhealthy food
is cheaper and easier to make or eat. There was also a lack of reinforcing factors like nutrition
counseling and accessible healthy foods.
The last thing that was done was to figure out the health status of low income families of
Salem County is the administrative diagnosis. This allowed me to determine the resources that I
have for a program.
As soon as I collected all the information that I needed, I analyzed the data. I analyzed
the data from low income families by looking it over. After looking over the data, I was able to
note the concerns of the families with reasons for the concerns.
When I prioritized the needs of low income families of Salem County, I figured out the
importance of nutrition education. As soon as the problems were found, I started to create an
intervention. Once the intervention was in place I implemented the intervention and hopefully
solved the problems of low income families and their health status. Finally when I validated the
prioritized needs, I went back through the needs assessment to make sure that the concerns of
low income families and the public health department were actually needed in Salem County.
Goals and Objectives:
Goal #1: Improve the overall knowledge of nutrition of low-income families in Salem County.
Objective #1: All participants will attend a 2 hour nutrition workshop, on October 10,
2014.
Objective #2: 80% of participants will improve their nutrition knowledge by 50%.
Goal #2: Improve Low-income families of Salem County nutritious food selection.
Objective #1: 80% of the participants will buy more nutritious foods by 20%.
Objective #2: All participants will be surveyed at the end of the workshop, to see
what they learned from the work shop and what they will use in their daily lives.
Nutrition Education For You!
Program Description
Workshop:
The workshop will be 2 hours with a lecture and with some hands on material on October
10, 2014. The purpose of this workshop is to educate people how to eat healthy on a budget. It
will consist of a lecture with some hands on experience as well. There will be different topics
addressed during this workshop.
Lecture:
The lecture will be an hour, on October 10, 2014. The lecture will be taught by myself.
The lecture will address the nutrition needs of the low income families. The lecture will include
subjects such as: nutrition basics (what foods are healthy, what the foods do for our body etc.),
healthy substitutions, how to make a meal plan, eating healthy on a budget, and how to change
their bad eating behaviors.
Activity:
After the lecture, the whole group will participate in hands on activities. This will be
helpful so the clients can see how to prepare nutritious foods by substituting ingredients. They
will also be taught how to make a healthy meal plan for the week that the whole family will like.
They will also be given healthy recipes that they can take home to try. This last part will take at
the most an hour.
Question and answers:
Nutrition Education For You!
The clients will be able to ask questions throughout the lecture period, but there will also
be an allotted time at the end for questions.
Marketing Plan:
I will have flyers to hand out. The flyers will have information about the workshop as
well as date, time, and location. The flyers will also include a phone number, and an e-mail
address. I will hand these flyers out 1 month in advance of the start date to give participants time
to schedule it in. Once the clients contact me about the program, I will get their information
(name, phone number, e-mail address, etc.).
Nutrition Education For You!
Free!
Taught by
professional
nutritionist from
Salem County!
Improve your
health with food!
Learn new ways
OCT. 10, 2014
NUTRITION
EDUCATION
FOR YOU
From tips to eating healthy on a budget to
learning how to improve your overall health.
to eat healthy!
Free information
and healthy
recipes!
58 Timberman Rd
Woodstown NJ, 08098
(856) 555-5555
Marich16@students.rowan
.edu
October 10, 2014
Nutrition Education For You!
Budget Table:
Expenditures
Quantity
Cost
Equipment: Laptop
1
$0
20
$12.00
Personnel
Myself
0
Space: (3 hours)
Social
$60.00
Marketing: Flyers (copies)
Hall in
Porchtown
Supplies: notebook
10
paper, and pens, ink, printer
notebooks, 60
paper, stamps
pack pens, 2 ink
$215.00
cartridge, copy
paper 5,000
sheets, 3 books
of stamps
Travel:
0 miles
$0.00
Incentive: recipes (3
40
$24.00
different kinds)
Total expenses: $945
Budget Explanation
copies
Nutrition Education For You!
I will be the person hosting this workshop. I will be presenting this work shop for
free to gain some personal experience with educating others and promoting health. This is also a
pretest for myself so I can personally view different ways to improve my organizational and
preparation skills.
The space for the pretest will be done at a local hall, which will cost $20 an hour
($60 for 3 hours).
The only equipment necessary will be a laptop that I already own. The incentives
that will be given out include: recipes. The supplies for this program will be note books which
cost $1.93 each, pens which cost $5.29 for a 60 pack, ink cartridge for the printer which cost $45
each (the workshop will most likely need two cartridges for printing, copy paper printing the
recipes which will cost $60 for 5000 sheets. The copies of the flyers will be $.60 a piece
The total expenses for this program will be $945.00
Timeline:
Nutrition Education For You!
Feb10-20,2014:
perform needs
assessment
Mar. 3,
2014:
develop
rationale.
Apr. 8, 2014:
develop goals
and
objectives.
May. 20, 2014:
create
intervention.
July 1, 2014:
conduct
formative
evaluation.
Aug 1-September
1, 2014: assemble
necessary
resources.
September 1October 1, 2014:
market program.
October 10,2014:
phase 1:
workshop.
Oct.10-, 2014:
program
evaluation.
.
Program Evaluation:
Nutrition Education For You!
Impact Evaluation:
Impact evaluation is used to see what skills (if any) were attained by the participants, if
there were any behavior changes, or different attitudes about the topic of the program. This
evaluation was done immediately after the program. To perform the impact evaluation of this
program, the clients were surveyed. The purpose of the surveys were to see what the clients
learned, if they will be confident to use what they learned on their own, and if they are satisfied
with what they learned from the program. This evaluation has shown whether any of the clients
decided to change their eating habits. The impact variables were self-efficacy, behavioral
capability. The variables were measured by surveys to the clients. The clients were asked to
explain how they felt the program has or has not benefitted them. It is important to hear whether
the clients benefited or not, to see what needs to be changed and what can stay the same about
this program.
References
Drewnowski Adam and Eichelsdoerfer, Petra. (2010 November). Can Low-Income Americans
Afford a Healthy Diet? Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2847733/
Drewnowski Adam and Specter SE . (2004). Poverty and obesity: the role of energy density and
energy costs1, 2. Retrieved from http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/1/6.full.
No Author. (n.d). Why Low-Income and Food Insecure People Are Vulnerable To Overweight
and Obesity. Retrieved from http://frac.org/initiatives/hunger-and-obesity/why-are-lowincome-and-food-insecure-people-vulnerable-to-obesity/
Nutrition Education For You!
Salem County Public Health Department. (n.d). Mission. Retrieved from
http://www.salemcountynj.gov/health/