GONUTRITION.ORG

January 3, 2010

The objectives of our Nutrition Education Program were to:

Increase the number of low-risk nutrition education contacts our agency provides.
Increase WIC participant involvement in the nutrition education they receive, integrating VENA principles.
Better prepare WIC Clerks to provide low-risk nutrition education.
Develop a simple tool that would assist meeting the previous goals

The process consisted of:

Developing a nutrition education menu of 7-10 nutrition topics after offering a needs assessment to participants.
Creating menus based on nutrition topics for women, infants or children in English and Spanish. Pictures and words on the menu identify the topics.
At WIC voucher pick-up appointments the administration staff present the nutrition Education Menu to participants and the participant chooses which topic interests them. The staff then engages participants in a short conversation about the topic using nutrition education materials.
Nutritionists train the clerks about menu topics through learning the mini lessons and role-playing. Clerks set monthly nutrition education contact goals and are informed about their progress
After six months participants were surveyed to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the menu

The results of our program show:

Nutrition Education contacts have increased since initiation of the Nutrition Education Menu.
Before implementation an average of 41 nutrition education contacts per month were provided.
Three months after initiation an average of 213 nutrition education contacts per month were provided.
Six months after initiation an average of 223 nutrition education contacts per month were provided
Participants now have the opportunity to choose the nutrition education they receive.
90% of participants surveyed indicated that they learned at least one new idea from the education they received.
50% of participants surveyed indicated they made a nutrition-related change as a result of the education they received.

Based on these results we can conclude:

The Nutrition Education Menu helped increase nutrition education contacts we provide to our 1450 participants.
Using the menu assists in initiating nutrition-related conversations between staff and participants.
Staff & participants feel a greater sense of ownership & involvement in their WIC experience.
The process of choosing a topic from the menu does not increase the time required for a pick-up appointment and is adaptable to most Local Agencies.
As Local Agencies across the country adapt the menu idea, more WIC participants will have the option to choose and will be more likely to make appropriate nutrition-related changes.

January 03rd 2010 Posted to Nutrition Education Menu