Thursday, May 17, 2012

Eve's Apple...A glimpse at my program...WITH GREAT PICS!!!



For this blog, I am excited to inform you that I am officially Dr. Robinson!!! Woohoo!!! Not because I graduated last Friday, but because it’s on my transcript. Lol. Anyway, several have asked me, “What did you have to do to get your doctorate? My answer is usually short and to the point, “I completed coursework, wrote a proposal, completed a nutrition education intervention, and wrote and defended a dissertation.” Sound easy? Not so. Nonetheless, since I have had so many inquiries into what I did in order to write my dissertation, I decided I would give you a brief glimpse of what I did for my nutrition education intervention. In order to finish writing my dissertation, I completed a “faith-based” nutrition education program. This program was designed to promote healthy dietary behaviors among African American women. It was called Eve’s Apple Nutrition Education Program. Eve (from Genesis in the Bible) was the focal character of all the sessions. Throughout the 8-week program (1 class each week), comparisons were made between Eve and how women make eating decisions. In addition to using Eve as the “star” of the program, to further include the “faith-base,” the program utilized a church as the venue where all the class sessions were held, along with prayer and scripture that were given at most every session.

Class sessions included:

1.      Eating Your Feelings. This session contained information on how your feelings affect what you eat and when you eat, and gave ways to combat this issue. THE WHEEL TO WILL THAT YOU SEE BELOW WAS CREATED BY ONE OF THE PARTICIPANTS WHO WAS INSPIRED BY WHAT WAS LEARNED IN SESSION 1. THE CREATIVE WHEEL SHE CREATED WAS IN AN ATTEMPT TO HELP PREVENT EMOTIONAL EATING. THINGS TO DO ON THE WHEEL INCLUDED READING A BOOK, EXERCISING, CLEANING UP, ETC...THERE WERE ALSO SCRIPTURES THAT SURROUNDED THE WHEEL. SORRY THE PICTURE IS SO SMALL...BUT GREAT JOB LAUREN!



2.      Hiding Your Shape. This session contained information on body image and the pros and cons of dieting. It relied mainly on group discussion.



3.      Educate Yourself before You Buy Food. This session contained information on how to analyze and interpret information on food within the grocery store. Participants were to look for labels that were high in fiber, low in sodium, low in calories, and low in fat.



4.      When at all possible, cook! This session contained information on healthier ways to cook along with a fruit smoothie demonstration.



5.      Overeating Out! This session contained information on how to analyze menus at the restaurant and how to practice healthier eating when eating out. Participants had to come up with healthy menus based on retaurant. Below is an example.



6.      Eat, Eat, Eat! This session contained information on basic principles to live by when eating food in efforts to not just diet, but live a healthier lifestyle.




7.      Burn Calories! This session contained information on exercise and gave simple exercises to do when at home with little time to exercise. A local beautician (THANKS BRANDI!) also discussed hair and exercise.





8.      Commit to a lifestyle change—not a diet. This was a conclusive session which was a culmination of what was learned in all sessions, where participants presented bulletin board presentations and commercials. At the end of the session, participants received free massages, hairdos, and makeovers.







Methods used in each session included lecture, group discussion, role-play, and hands-on activities using local restaurant menus, cookbooks, and food labels. Program objectives were to increase low-fat eating behaviors and decrease negative dietary behaviors. The program was implemented with over 40 African American women at a church in Little Rock, Arkansas. Data was collected from pre and post surveys and determined that at eight weeks, participants significantly DECREASED negative dietary behaviors that included emotional eating, snacking on sweets, haphazard planning, and meal skipping, and INCREASED low-fat eating behaviors like eating lean meats, and eating fruits and vegetables. These results indicate Eve’s Apple Nutrition Education Program was successful in improving dietary behaviors during the program. A focus group with eight of the participants was completed after the program and also indicated that the faith-base was an important component in improving dietary behaviors. More specifically, using the church, scriptures, prayer, and Eve as the focus were supportive in helping the women to modify dietary behaviors. Hopefully, the research I completed can be built upon and used to help women in general overcome eating issues.

Well, I hope this has answered some questions....until next time…

 -Jenelle N. Robinson

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