February Discussion Question One
Why do you think the community based education programs had the greatest influence?
posted by Julie @ 12:49 PM
26 comments
ISU Dietetic Internship Journal Club
Objective: To become familiar with current scientific literature on a variety of nutrition topics and to gain experience in gathering, organizing, critically evaluating, presenting and facilitating group discussion of the literature and the implications to practice.
26 Comments:
The community-based education programs may have included parental involvement and learning as well. This is as opposed to school education programs where parents are not likely present. The parents/family, then, could also incorporate knowledge obtained into the family's home. Therefore, this could be a reason that the children in these community-based studies may have been more willing to taste fruits and vegetables and thus increase their intake.
Since children eat most of their meals outside of school hours, parents are key role models in promoting healthy eating habits and encouraging fruit and vegetable consumption. Since parents do not attend school with their children, they would not be able to experience, first hand, the benefits of gardening, and so, dietary improvement among the youth would probably not improve. At this age, parents typically have the final say in everything. They are the ones who make the money and so they ultimately decide what food to purchase. Since most community outreach programs provide ideas and tools to the general public, family members can become easily involved in their child's learning experiences. This involvement could in turn lead to the adoption of healthier eating habits among various households.
Parents often play a huge role in what fruits and vegetables children eat. Often times if parens do not model the importnace of eating fruits and vegetables children feel that they do not need to eat them either. In addition if parents are not supplying the children with fruits and vegetables they may be more reluctant to eat them outside of the home. Community based education programs are great ways to educate the parents and children together so that they can influence each other when it comes to making meals as well as grocery shopping.
In the community, more people are involved, not just the student and teachers, at a school. The community programs probably “touch” more people. Possibly the school did not have the greatest influence because the parents were not there to learn themselves and to utilize the knowledge at home with their children. Also, the children may not have told the parents about what they learned or the new fruits and vegetables that they were planting and tasting. Children seem to be busy and easily forget things that they do throughout the school day. This may have caused a barrier in what they learned and taught their parents to help them have healthy habits at home too!
Anna- I liked what you said about the parents are key role models in promoting healthy eating habits. I do not think that parents realize the influence that they have on their children and their health. Parents do make the money and buy food for their children, healthy or not. Maybe more community programs need to be implemented so we can reach more parents and children, together, to improve overall health for everyone. I think programs like this could bring families together in a good way!
Community based programs tend to be more voluntary in nature, whereas the in-school and after-school programs are required. The children at the community centers are probably more willing to learn and experience new things. Adding in that parents are often more involved in community programs too, and the parental influence could also impact these programs' effectiveness.
Parents may have been present at the community based education programs and may have had effects on children's intake of fruits and vegetables. Parents may have been more inclined to purchase new fruits and vegetables for their family. School based programs only target children. Handouts may have been given to the children to take home, but may not have made it. Also, the child may not have much of an influence on the parent's grocery list, so they may only be able to get the fruits and vegetables offered during school lunch.
Rachel, good point about community programs being voluntary, unlike school programs. People who are interested in the topic will make an effort to go to the class, try and purchase fruits and vegetables.
Most of the community based programs were held in the summer and participation may have been higher due to summer boredom. The garden based program probably kept them busy and gave them something to do. Another reason could be that the parents or other relatives were involved in the process which helped the youth to get excited about it.
Kat,
It is true that not many handouts make it to the parents and the parents of the children who did garden program at school may not have even known about it. In turn, like you said, the kids wouldn't make an effect on the grocery list if the parents aren't as involved.
Kat, I also agree that children often are not involved in the grocery shopping process. To you and I, meal planning and grocery shopping may be important. However, not everyone is thinking about nutritious meals and smart grocery shopping. Childrens' preferences are often neglected.
Rachel- I completely agree. COmmunity programs are typically volunteer. So when people are volunteering for things they are usually more interested and remain committed to whatever they signed up for. This is probably a strong reason why there was greater success with this kind of program.
People like to show off their success. The community based programs including community gardens were probably most success b/c it gave the kids the widest audience to showcase their success. People, including kids, like to feel apart of something bigger and not limiting it to a school-based or after school program allowed for that to happen more.
Myra
Utilizing the community, there are more resources. Children are more likely to be "forced" to be involved due a parent, but are as well, more likely to follow the example of the parent. Also, involvement in community based education programs may be greater due to voluntary participation in the program.
It is likely that community based education programs had a greater influence on children’s fruit and vegetable intake due to parent/family involvement. Since parents are the ones who make the meals (typically) then it just makes sense to include them in the education. When the parents get the education that the children get they are more likely to include more fruits and veggies at meal time. This also shows the children that the parents are interested in what they are doing.
In the community setting you don't have the strict roles of teacher-student, but more friend-friend. Also most students learn better from hands on learning than just seeing the teacher write it on the board, or read it off of a power point. I know from experience that you have to fail/fall/do something wrong to really learn how you should do something.
Tori
I agree with you Brittney, the parents working side by side with their kids would make a difference. Whether kids admit it or not they do look up to their parents as role models, so if they see mom or dad working in the garden and eating the vegetables from that garden, they are more likely to try the vegetables.
Tori
The reviews of each of the studies were very limited in detail, and because of this, it is difficult to say exactly why the community based education programs had the greatest influence. However, if I had to make an assumption based the information that was given and my prior knowledge, I would say that one possible reason for its effectiveness could be the following; many elementary school/junior high school teachers are not nutrition experts, nor do many of them likely have a passion for the subject. It is not stated that all of the in-school interventions were led solely by school teachers, but one could assume that they were the more dominant influencers on the children. In contrast, the community interventions were most likely headed by a dietitian or community nutritionist, both of whom have extensive knowledge on the subject of nutrition in addition to a great passion for it. The instructors of these programs can make all the difference when it comes to the outcome of the intervention.
On a related note, the in-school study that involved kindergarten students from South Carolina had not only school teachers implementing the program, but also had “extension educators”. It was not stated whether or not these educators were nutrition professionals, however, it is likely that they were considering the subject of the material being taught. The results of this intervention were extremely significant.
In addition, it was stated that the curriculum and activities in the in-school study of the 5 elementary schools from Texas was led solely by the school teachers, and this study was one that produced no positive results from the intervention.
It's possible that a reason for the community-based programs' success is that they don't have the negative stigma attached to them that school-based programs might. Not everyone regards school as a positive place - perhaps there is a comfort level to the community-based program that one based at school doesn't have. It's also possible that the community-based programs can offer a place to garden, and therefore a reason to continue practicing gardening, as opposed to a school that closes down for the summer. It's one thing to teach kids how to garden, but if a child has no access to a patch of land outside of school, it's a pretty difficult to keep your interest going.
Rachel I definitely agree with what you said about community based programs being voluntary in nature. Like Myra said, children like the freedom and like to feel that they are a part of something bigger. I also like what Carrie said about the community having more resources. In addition, time would probably not be as limited in the community based programs as it would be in school programs. Therefore, children are able to learn on their own without being put on a time constraint.
Community based education programs most likely produced better results because they people attending the programs weren't forced to do so. With a school, or after school program, all children are expected to participate. If the children were resistent to the idea of eating fruits and vegetables before the program, they may still feel the same after because they were forced to participate. However, people who are interested in this type of program and join one set up in thier community, are already in the right frame of mind to learn and try new things, which results in an increased intake.
Community based programs likely included parents and other family members who could encourage younger participants to try the new varieties of veggies. On the other hand, school based programs may not have been as successful if peers did not want to try the vegetables. They may not have had the positive influences at home during meal and snack times.
Colin,
I agree that there was likely a disconnect between school and home with the school based programs.
Emily
In a community based program, the people involved are probably more interested in it since it is not forced upon them like it would be in a school setting. Because of this, the children involved may be more likely to enjoy the experience when the people around them are truly interested and having fun with the program. In addition, if the parents are able to participate with the children, they will be more likely to incorporate fruits and vegetables into the meals that are not consumed at school.
Tori-
I like what you mentioned about the roles within a community-based program versus a school-based program. It is true that having the different roles would change the dynamic of the program.
Alison, it is a very good point that if it was held at school, the children may be less interested. They may feel that they "have" to do it, and may participate less and demonstrate some resistance.
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