Chapter 15
Designing Community
Nutrition Interventions
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Learning Objectives
• Describe five factors to consider when designing a community nutrition intervention.
• Describe three levels of intervention.
• Discuss five theories and models of consumer health behavior.
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Introduction
• There are two important aspects of designing interventions:
– You must have information about your target population and why they do what they do in terms of behavior.
– You need an arsenal of tools for influencing behavior.
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Choose an Intervention
Strategy
• The first step in designing an intervention is to review the program’s goals and objectives, which specify the program outcomes.
• Next you need to design a rough outline of what the intervention might look like.
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Choose an Intervention
Strategy
• The intervention strategy is the approach for achieving the program’s goals and objectives.
• It addresses the question of how the program will be implemented to meet the target population’s nutritional needs.
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Choose an Intervention
Strategy
• The intervention strategy can be directed towards:
– Individuals
– Communities
– Systems
• The intervention strategy can also encompass one or more levels of intervention:
– Level I
– Level II
– Level III
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Choose an Intervention
Strategy
• Level I: building awareness
– These focus on increasing awareness of a problem.
– They are helpful for changing attitudes and beliefs and increasing knowledge of risk factors but they seldom result in actual behavior changes.
– Examples include health fairs, screenings,
Internet web sites, and newsletters.
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Choose an Intervention
Strategy
• Level II: changing lifestyles
– These are designed to help individuals make lifestyle changes.
– They can be successful when they call for small changes over time and when they use a combination of education and behavior modification.
– Level II interventions reach individuals through one-on-one counseling and small group meetings.
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Choose an Intervention
Strategy
• Level II (continued)
– They involve a program of assessing current behaviors, setting goals for behavior change, developing skills needed to change behavior, providing support for change, and evaluating progress.
– Examples include fitness programs in schools and health promotion programs for city employees.
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Choose an Intervention
Strategy
• Level III: creating supporting environments for change
– These work toward creating environments that support the behavior changes made by individuals.
– They include worksite health promotion and cafeteria programs.
– Supportive environments can be created through policies that support gleaning, point-of-purchase labeling, and tax incentives for companies with health promotion programs.
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Study the Target Population
• When designing an intervention, study the target population’s eating patterns and their beliefs, values, and attitudes about foods and health.
• Conduct library research, review existing programs that deal with the target population, network with colleagues who work with the group, and post queries about the target population on Internet listservs.
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Study the Target Population
• The target population’s foodrelated behavior is important.
• Many factors influence food intake and nutritional status...
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Study the Target Population
• Food Supply and Food Availability
– Food choices are influenced by the types and amounts of foods available in the food supply.
– Food availability is affected by the food distribution system, types of imported foods, facilities for food processing and production, and the regulatory environment.
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Study the Target Population
• Income and Food Prices
– Two economic factors that affect food consumption.
– Households with higher incomes have more money to spend on food and choose whatever foods they want, regardless of price.
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Study the Target Population
• Sociocultural Factors
– Food choices are strongly influenced by social groups, and primary social groups include families, friends, and work groups with the family exerting the most influence.
– Culture influences food behaviors and even dictates how foods are stored, processed, consumed, disposed of, and even which foods are considered edible.
– Religious beliefs affect food choices, and some religions specify the foods that may be eaten and how they should be prepared.
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Study the Target Population
• Food Preferences, Cognitions, and
Attitudes
– Preferences for certain tastes and foods appear to develop quite early in humans.
– Food choices are affected by our cognitions, or what we think.
– Attitudes are believed to influence behavior indirectly.
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Study the Target Population
• Health Beliefs and Practices
– Beliefs about foods, diet, and health influence food choices.
– Example: traditional Chinese beliefs of yin and yang
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Draw from Current Research on Consumer Behavior
• Many theories have been proposed to explain the decision-making process as it relates to health.
• Theories are sometimes presented in the form of models - simple images of the decision-making process.
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Draw from Current Research on Consumer Behavior
• Theories include:
– Stages of Change Model
– Health Belief Model
– Theory of Planned Behavior
– Social Cognitive Theory
– Diffusion of Innovation Model
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The Stages of Change Model
• Founded on 3 assumptions:
– Behavior change involves a series of different steps or stages.
– There are common stages and processes of change across a variety of health behaviors:
– Tailoring an intervention to the stage of change in which people are at the moment is more effective than not considering the stage people are in.
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The Stages of Change Model
• Common stages:
– Precontemplation - the individual is either unaware of or not interested in making a change.
– Contemplation - the person is thinking about making a change, usually within the next six months.
– Preparation - the person actively decides to change and plans a change, usually within one month.
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The Stages of Change Model
• Common stages (continued):
– Action - the individual is trying to make the desired change and has been working at making the change for less than six months.
– Maintenance - the individual sustains the change for six months or longer and the changed behavior has become a part of his or her daily routine.
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The Stages of Change Model
• The model resembles a spiral, with people moving around the spiral until they eventually achieve maintenance and termination.
• People in the contemplation stage are seeking information...
• ...whereas people in the maintenance stage are likely to be looking for information and searching for ways to strengthen the behavior.
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The Stages of Change Model
• The Application—Individual
– The Smithfield Fitness Club (members in various stages)
• The Application—Communities
– City of Scottsville (in precontemplation stage)
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The Health Belief Model
• Developed to explain why people failed to participate in programs designed to detect or prevent disease.
• The model has three components:
– The perception of a threat to health.
– The expectation of certain outcomes related to a behavior.
– Self-efficacy - the belief that one can make a behavior change.
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The Health Belief Model
• Other variables, such as education, income, sex, age, and ethnic background influence health behaviors in this model, but they are believed to act indirectly.
• The Application
– American Cancer Society’s public awareness campaign
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The Theory of Planned
Behavior
• a.k.a. the Theory of Reasoned Action
• A fundamental model for explaining virtually any health behavior over which the individual has control.
• Behavior is determined directly by a person’s intention to perform the behavior.
– Intentions - the instructions people give to themselves to behave in certain ways.
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The Theory of Planned
Behavior
• In forming intentions, people consider the outcome of their behavior and the opinion of significant others before committing themselves to a particular action.
– In other words, intentions are influenced by attitudes and subjective norms, or perceived social pressure to perform or not perform a behavior.
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The Theory of Planned
Behavior
• Attitudes are determined by:
– The individual’s belief that a certain behavior will have a given outcome.
– An evaluation of the actual outcome of the behavior.
– A perception of his or her ability to control the behavior.
• The Application
– Fairlawn Weight Management Center’s “Get
Fit Now” program
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Social Cognitive Theory
• Explains behavior in terms of a model in which behavior, personal factors such as cognitions, and the environment interact constantly, such that a change in one area has implications for the others.
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Social Cognitive Theory
• The environment includes:
– The social real (family, friends, peers, coworkers)
– The physical real (the workplace, layout of a kitchen, etc.)
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Social Cognitive Theory
• Strength of this model = it focuses on certain target behaviors rather than on knowledge and attitudes.
• The Application
– Peer counseling course to reduce pica among WIC participants
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Eat Healthy: Your Kids Are
Watching
• Michigan Nutrition Support Network
– A public–private partnership to improve the nutritional health of Michigan’s low-income families.
• “Eat Healthy, Your Kids Are Watching”
– Focus group–tested message designed to prompt awareness in parents that they are role models for their children.
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Eat Healthy: Your Kids Are
Watching
• Goals and Objectives
– Primary goal - improve the nutritional health of Kent County’s low-income families through collaborative efforts among partners.
– Objectives:
• Develop and implement “awareness-building” activities promoting healthful eating to the target audience and to the public in general
• Construct a public–private partnership with businesses and agencies to assist with specific programs for the campaign.
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Eat Healthy: Your Kids Are
Watching
• Methodology
– Potential partners were located
– Awareness-building activities:
• 30-second cable spots
• Campaign newsletters in English and Spanish
• Signs on and in transit buses
• Logo and slogan program with grocery stores and school districts
• Toll-free telephone number with messages in
English and Spanish
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Eat Healthy: Your Kids Are
Watching
• Methodology (continued)
– Partnership programming:
• Information on grocery store tours
• Cooking demonstrations
• WIC module for nutrition education
– Partner kit included an events schedule, lesson plans, activity sheets, and recipes
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Eat Healthy: Your Kids Are
Watching
• Results
– Reached an estimated 49,000 residents, including close to 7,000 low-income households
– Random sample of 800 adults in households with children surveyed
– Campaign awareness was 52%
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Eat Healthy: Your Kids Are
Watching
• Results (continued)
– 67% in low-income households
– 2/3 indicated that they understood and agreed with the message when they heard it
– 20% indicated that they would adopt the message
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Eat Healthy: Your Kids Are
Watching
• Lessons Learned
– An enthusiastic collaboration among businesses, community agencies, and community leaders was the key to the success of this venture.
– Partnerships forged between public and private organizations can grow strong as a result of working together on such campaigns.
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The Diffusion of Innovation
Model
• Developed to explain how a product or idea becomes accepted by a majority of consumers.
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The Diffusion of Innovation
Model
• It consists of four stages:
– Knowledge - the individual is aware of the innovation and has acquired some information about it.
– Persuasion - the person forms an attitude either in favor of or against the innovation.
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The Diffusion of Innovation
Model
• Four stages (continued):
– Decision - the individual performs activities that lead to either adopting or rejecting the innovation.
– Confirmation - the individual looks for reinforcement for his or her decision and may change if exposed to counter-reinforcing messages.
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The Diffusion of Innovation
Model
• Consumers are classified according to how readily they adopt new ideas or products:
– Innovators - adopt the innovation quite readily and perceive themselves as popular and financially privileged.
– Early adopters - the next to adopt; include opinion leaders, are integrated into the community and are well respected by their families and peers.
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The Diffusion of Innovation
Model
• Consumer classifications (continued):
– Early majority - tend to be cautious.
– Late majority - skeptical; usually adopt an innovation only through peer pressure.
– Laggards - the last to adopt; tend to come from small families, to be single and older, and to be traditional.
• The Application
– Seeking early adopters for the “Heart-
Healthy Living” program
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Put It All Together: Case
Study 1
• Defining levels of intervention for target groups
• Formative evaluation and literature review
• Influence of theories of consumer behavior on health promotion activities
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Use Entrepreneurship to
Steer in a New Direction
• One of the major challenges for community nutritionists is to think of new ways of delivering health messages and services to vulnerable populations.
• We need a better understanding of the community factors that influence change and the reasons why consumers resist change.
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Use Entrepreneurship to
Steer in a New Direction
• When you plan community interventions:
– Think of new ways to reach your target audience.
– Plan strategies for finding out why your clients are resisting a behavior change.
– Apply your creativity to influencing people to achieve behavior change.
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Being an Effective Speaker
• Things to Do Before Your
Presentation
– First, tell your audience what you are going to tell them...
– then tell them what you have to tell them...
– and finally, tell them what you told them!
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Being an Effective Speaker
• Before Your Presentation (continued)
– Prepare your visual aids so that they present your ideas effectively.
• Clear purpose
• Readily understood
• Simple format
• Free of nonessential information
• Graphical format
• Visible
• Legible
• Integrated with verbal text
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Being an Effective Speaker
• Before Your Presentation (cont.)
– Rehearse your presentation several times.
– Use mental imaging to boost your self-confidence.
• Mental imaging - a technique to develop and strengthen a positive mental picture of the performance.
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Being an Effective Speaker
• Things to Do During Your
Presentation
– Smile
– Use eye contact
– Use gestures
– Control the pace
– Use pauses
– Vary the volume and pitch
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Being an Effective Speaker
• Remember that the purpose of your presentation is to share information with your audience.
• You will want to develop your own style.
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