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Discusses how 60 healthy children, ages four to seven years old, were interviewed to evaluate their health perceptions in general and to determine the degree to which they included food and eating behavior in their perceptions. Concept maps wereused to analyze interview transcripts; Children completed a four-week, home-based, nutrition education program; Young children are ready to learn more about food, health, and nutrition; More.

Discusses the use of focus groups to study public reaction to the nutrition education material, `Dietary Guidelines for Americans.' Methods; Results; Applications. INSET: The Journal talks with... (an interview with the authors)..

Describes a study to compare the knowledge about fat and cholesterol in adult, middle-class men and women and changes in that knowledge after reading an educational bulletin. Size of study; Study design; Methods; Data analysis; Results; Discussion. INSET: The journal talks with... (interview)..

Objective: To evaluate an educational intervention about the food label designed specifically for women with type 2 diabetes mellitus., Design: A pretest-posttest control group design. Participants received random group assignment., Subjects/setting: Forty-three women aged 40 to 60 years with type 2 diabetes living in a rural community in Pennsylvania participated. Forty participants (93%) completed the program., Intervention: Nine weekly group sessions were developed on the basis of findings from previous research among this sample. Principles from Ausubel's learning theory were also incorporated into program design and evaluation., Main Outcome Measures: The effectiveness of the food label education program on participants' knowledge was determined using a multiple-choice test designed to measure declarative and procedural knowledge. A skills inventory assessed participants' perceived confidence in using the food label. The validity and reliability of the instruments had been established previously., Statistical Analyses: Analysis of variance was performed to compare groups. Paired t tests compared pretest and posttest results., Results: The experimental group showed a greater gain than the control group in total knowledge (P < .001), declarative knowledge (P < .001), and procedural knowledge (P < .01) at posttest. Posttest data showed a significant increase (P < .01) in experimental participants' perceived confidence in using the food label., Conclusions: Women with diabetes need more education about the food label. This intervention is an effective outpatient education program. Participant knowledge and perceived confidence in using the food label improved significantly as a result of the intervention. Future research should assess retention of knowledge gained and the impact of the intervention on metabolic measures of diabetes management and control.

Facilitated group discussions provide an alternative method to lecture and one-on-one approaches for conducting educational interventions at clinic sites. They are an interactive form of education wherein learners generate the specific topics to be addressed and share their knowledge and experience with other group members through discussion. In brief, the educator becomes a facilitator who, rather than lecturing, encourages clients to discuss freely among themselves their own approach to the nutrition problems posed during the session. As a facilitator, the nutritionist strives to create a comfortable atmosphere for discussion, encourages participation, and interjects only to correct misinformation and manage group dynamics. Facilitated group discussions allow nutrition practitioners to deliver meaningful nutrition education in a manner that helps empower their clients to improve their dietary habits; at the same time such discussions meet the increased public administrative demands for efficiency. Possible benefits to clients include more confidence, better communication skills, improved thinking skills, and increased motivation and commitment to improving nutrition behavior. We recommend that nutrition educators try facilitated group discussions in their clinics.

The Food Guide Pyramid represents changes and challenges for nutrition educators. Nutrition educators will have to change the focus, content, and teaching expectations for lessons. Use of the Pyramid will also require changes in the way the concepts of good nutrition are related to different audiences. In contrast to previous food guides, which represented a foundation diet, the Food Guide Pyramid represents the total diet, addressing overnutrition as well as undernutrition. The Food Guide Pyramid is a graphic representation of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and illustrates the key concepts of variety, moderation, and proportionality. For practitioners, one challenge is to find ways to effectively use the Food Guide Pyramid to teach clients how to put the Dietary Guidelines into action. Another challenge involves designing materials that adapt the messages of the Food Guide Pyramid to a variety of audiences. Teaching materials and instructions should emphasize the key concepts of the Food Guide Pyramid and should be clear, consistent, motivational, and culturally sensitive. Few educational materials are available to help practitioners with these challenges. In this article we outline the key changes that the Food Guide Pyramid embodies, and provide ideas and suggestions for using the Pyramid in a practice setting.

A parent-child autotutorial dietary education program for 4- to 10-year-old, hypercholesterolemic children and their families was developed and pilot tested. The 10-lesson program, designed for weekly use at home, uses a "talking-book" approach (audiotapes with accompanying picture booklet) for the child. Parents are provided with information on ways to make recommended dietary changes, along with hands-on activities to do with the children. To help match the instructional approach to the wide developmental range within the children's age span, materials are divided into three program levels that use different story characters and concept presentations. During program development, evaluation by two children (and their parents) for each of the program levels guided the design and refinement of the lessons. A pilot test among 22 hypercholesterolemic children (whose treatment was limited to diet modification) revealed that children within the 4- to 10-year age range liked the "talking-book" approach and identified positively with the story characters. Parents indicated that their materials were clear and helpful. Between the baseline and 3-month follow-up visits, the children exhibited a significant increase in knowledge of heart healthy foods, a decrease in total fat consumption that approached significance, and a significant decrease in plasma low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol values.

The study examined family interaction patterns related to food and nutrition and parents' attitudes toward the importance of nutrition and compared interaction patterns and attitudes of parents participating in a nutrition education program (self-selected) to a cross-sectional sample of parents. It also assessed differences according to educational level, income, and mother's employment status. Income and education levels were higher for the self-selected sample. Parents from the self-selected sample had higher attitude scores and interaction behavior scores than those in the cross-sectional sample. Ninety-five percent of mothers and 83% of fathers with young children in the cross-sectional sample ate the evening meal together. Parents who participated in a nutrition education program reported discussing topics related to food and nutrition with their families more frequently than did parents in the cross-sectional sample. For both fathers and mothers, attitude and interaction scores differed with education level. Mothers who were employed part-time showed the most positive attitudes toward nutrition and the highest family interaction scores. Possible explanations for and implications of these findings are discussed.

Dietitians and nutrition educators can better decide what and how to teach if they first determine what the client or student is ready to learn. This article describes four major factors that influence learner readiness in short one-to-one interactions. The factors include information processing capacity, affective state, prior learning and experience, and the learner's "way of knowing" or philosophy of learning. Important aspects of the factors can be revealed quickly with 2 to 3 minutes of respectful, interested questioning to determine whether the learner is in a negative mood or oppressed affective state and to determine his or her experiential or knowledge background and approach or reaction to learning new material. The most common mistake educators make is "information overload." The human capacity to process information is limited. Instruction should be made to fit the learner's capacity (i.e., a maximum of seven +/- two concepts should be addressed in a 15-minute period). When nutritionists adjust their teaching style to better fit individual variations, they will maximize their impact as educators.