COMMUNICATION AND NUTRITION EDUCATION

People will not change their beliefs and habits concerning food unless they are convinced that changes

will benefit them and their children.

Therefore, NEC programme should educate village families about the benefits of nutrition foods, good

child feeding practices and improved preparation and preservation of foods.

The Scope of nutrition education

• Mainly concerned with those population subgroups at risk or already suffering from

malnutrition.

• Addresses existing problems, but also aimed at promoting and enhancing health.

• Incorporates a range of programme strategies^ well as communication and education

activities.

• Programmes are designed to promote the knowledge, skills and supports needed to be

adequately nourished, and to avoid as far as possible the social and economic costs of

malnutrition and disease.

Aims of Nutrition Education

• Improve the nutritional status of the people by so doing promote better health and living

standard.

• Nutrition is a multi disciplinary subject and therefore, people from many disciplines have to be

involved in successful nutrition programme.

• Educator must have a good knowledge of the way of life of the people to be taught as well as

knowing its subject. An educator of the same cultural background will understand the people

more readily than a foreigner. It is necessary to know the nutritional problem of the community

e.g. beliefs, taboos, superstition etc.

• Result should not be expected too quickly.

• At community and family level, school age children can be important agents for change.

• They are still forming their tastes and developing their preference.
• If introduced to a new food, they will often readily accept it and like it.

• School meals may usefully introduce new foods to children and thus influence food habits.

• Children may influence the immediate family and later their own children to eat new highly

nutritious foods.

Problems of Nutrition Education

❖ Lack of program co-ordination ineffective nutrition education programmes are more likely to

be the result of ineffective implementation processes, rather than a lack of technical knowledge

about what works in nutrition education to bring about behaviour change.

❖ Lack of qualified personnels.

❖ Insufficient understanding of methods and media for education.

Who is to be Educated?

Target Groups for Nutrition

❖ Primary Target Groups

I. Population sub-groups - life cycle approach

• Assessing the nutritional issues of population subgroups will lead to the identification

of appropriate target population.

• Life cycle approach is one way of ensuring that the needs of the whole population are

assessed and taking into account, that is, their dcvelopmental needs.

II. Population sub-groups -- special needs

• Groups with special needs should be identified and targeted.This vary from

country to country but could include ethnic communities.

❖ Secondary Target Group

III. Are people who will be used to reach the primary target groups.

• Include health workers, teachers, agriculturists, media journalists, food

producers and retailers, child care workers, village volunteers.

 • Training will usually be required for this group.

❖ Tertiary Target Group

• Are people who are able to facilitate or support nutrition education initiatives.

• May include decision makers at all levels e.g. politicians and administrators,

influential community/religious leaders.

Education in Nutrition should impact the

• Knowledge and also cultivate the skill that will enable the learner to obtain the best diet

possible under the circumstances-in which he lives.

• the illiterate rural family may be taught why and how to produce 4year round.

• Supply of foods that will improve the family diet.

• Storage of prepared of food to conserve nutrient

• Urban family may be taught why and how to get the most nutritive value and satisfaction from

the money spent on food.

• Teaching of school children can begin with the simplest element of the subject and become

more extensive as their intellectual development progresses.

• In early years, emphasis is place on cultivating good food habits and sensible attitudes towards

food.

Principles of Nutrition education

• There should be felt need for the education.

• People must want to learn, that is, interest

• Learners should make effort to learn and understand.

• There should be exchange of ideas and information.

• All methods possible should be employed to reach all senses, that is, ear, eyes, taste, smell and

touch.

• Postals, mass media e.g. films, radio, T.V and newspaper could help learners to understand

things better. These principles are applicable to the teaching of individual, organized group or
 the public at large.

By Whom shall Nutrition be Taught?

• Specialists in Nutrition

• Professionally trained workers

• Local health officers and other physicians °

• Nurses and Mid wives

• Local supervisors of food services

• Community Workers

• Extension workers in Agriculture and Home Economics.

• Primary and Secondary School teachers especially health teachers athletic coaches, Home

Economics teachers.

• School Administrators

• Voluntary leader.

• It is very important that the people above should be trained for the part they have to play in

nutrition education so that they can pass on the correct information.

Co-ordination of Effort

• There is need for interdisciplinary approach to nutrition education.

• Interministerial approach and co-ordination of each of the ministries.

• Ministry of Education.

• 6Ministry of Health

• Ministry of Agriculture

• Ministry of Information

• Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture.

Steps in Community Entry Points

• Get to know the community: its structure, culture, initial contacts, leaders, community groups,

community based organization.

 • Initial actions that have been take®, achievement made so far, achievable within a specified

period of time.

• Strengthening of community organizations.

• Evaluation and reflection on achievement

Community Assessment Tools

• Focus Group Discussions/Interviews (FGD)

• Participants must be between 6-12 people.

• There must be a facilitator, recorder and tape recorder. e People must be seated in a circles.

• Organizers to seat in between the participant.

• Use a FG guide

• Open ended questions e.g. what do you think

• There is no right or wrong answers in FGD

• Use a neutral place - schools, youth centre.

• Maximum time must be between 30-45mins

• Target groups - do not mix age groups, young women, old women separately.

• 6-12 FGD sections are recommended.

• FGD provides qualitative information

• 6Public Issues Forum for 25 - 30 people and it is open.

• secondary Data Analysis - Not the best because information could be outdated.

• nterview Schedules: Questions must not be more than 20 questions.

• Brain stormy.

• Asset mapping: Human asset, associational assets, institutional assets, local business, outside

resources.

• Key informat approach: Elected officials, key person in institutions e.g.

• religious leader, banker, school, etc. Agency administrators e.g. social service development

leaders of public service organizations professional on specific areas e.g. lawyers.

 • Delphi Technique: About 7-8 people are used to analyse intent e.e.

• problems, causes, solutions and actions.

• Discussion Poster.

• Three pile sorting cards

• Transect walk.

• Mappiry.

• Flip chart.

• Historical Timeliness

• Trend analysis.

• Fishes and Boulders: Assets and obstacles.

• Any of the above can be used in community survey depending on the survey objectives.

Education and Communication Methods

• Communication is a process of meaningful social interaction which involves the transmission

of meanings through the uses of verbal, feelings and pictorial symbols.

• The understanding of the technology and the complexity of communication has bred

harmonious relationship among people as individuals, groups and nations in their cross

cultural settings.

• Understanding of it produces success where least expected while a misunderstanding of it has

resulted in failures.

Communication process involves four (4) interrelated factors

• The communicator - the person who initiates the process.

• The communicator/communicant — the addressee or recipient.

• The communique - the message communicated.

• The effect of the communication on both the communicator and communicate.

• Communication is determined and effected by the cognition and perception of die interacting

communicator and communicate

 • Cognition denotes the image or map of the word held and known by the individual.

• Individual responses to person, things and events are largely shaped by the way he perceives

them.

• Behind these cognition, perception complex is the undercurrent of believe values, needs,

interest, educational background and individual interpretations of self indications.

• Mass Media

• Based on marketing and communication models which tend to deal with simple messages or a.

discrete food or behaviour.

• Mass media has been effective in raising community awareness of a nutrition problem.

• Successful in encouraging the use of iodized salt.

n Advantages Disadvantages
Face to Face Interactive Expensive
Reliable Penetration weak
Provide social support May encourage
% Allows for personalizing dependency.
Allows for modeling May not be acceptable to
Appropriate sequencing many people
easy

Mass Media Cheap

Followperup contact
easy. Weak engagement of
Large number reached users
j More acceptable for many Unreliable
o people. Dilution of content
\ May stimulate self Follow UD difficult.
L _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ initiated
____ change |
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SUPPORT STRATEGIES IN NUTRITION EDUCATION

1. Advocacy - to influence decision makers to support nutrition promotion and to

mobilise social support.

2. Policy - can be developed at all levels of society.

• national policy impacting on the national food supply e.g. Day care (serve
 nutritious food).

3. Community action - can increase community control over information relating

to food and nutrition.

4. Regulation - educators and community members can advocate for certain kind

of regulation example of food supply to support nutrition promotion.

• All these affect the communication process.

• The communicator must be constantly conscious of the fact that different people, group or

nationalities may have different cognition and perception.

• With the result that what is meaningful to one may meaningless to the other.

Selection of Channels

Selection of educational methods should be based on what is appropriate for the target groups and the

setting.

An analysis of the determinants of the nutrition behaviour of the target group, including factors likely

to influence behaviour is the usual starting point.

Pre-disposing factors such as

• Knowledge, beliefs, values, attitude and confidence that provide rational or motivation for the

behaviour.

• Enabling factors (skills, resources)

• Reinforcing factors (family, peers, teachers, etc) which reward or contribute to the persistence

of behaviour.

• This kind of information provides the basis for planning the education and communication

methods to be used.

Channels of Communication

• Face to face education either in groups or on a one to one basis has been the traditional

approach to nutrition education.

• Evaluations of nutrition education confirm that programmes which have an impact on

 behaviour (not just on knowledge and attitude) depend on social context and interpersonal

interaction to provide participants with the opportunity to practice the new behaviours and

learn to solve their own nutrition problems over time.

- regulation to ensure safety of food.

- compositional standards e.g. fortification

5. Food production and processing - Many Nutrition Education Programme have been supported

by developing participant's skill in growing, processing and preparing foods.

6. Raising Awareness - Social marketing methods such as media, advertising and sponsorship,

raise awareness on nutrition issues in the community influence public opinion and give

Nutrition Education a higher profile. Broad social support will often be the first stage in

effecting positive changes.

7. Organizational Change - Collaborating with organisation and sectors e.g. EGA, social

organization, worksites, educational organization, health centres, cultural groups can lead to

changes withing this organization which support nutritional improvement.

STEPS IN NUTRITION EDUCATION PROGRAMME

1. Get background information.

2. Set Objectives.

3. Make specific decisions which include

a) target Groups - mother, farmer, teacher.

b) Location of the programme - urban, rural comfortable

c) Message - should be few, simple, clear and short. It should also be relevant to the need of the

target group.

4. Plan should be realistic in term of resources.

5. Get the timing right.

6. Communication channel should be appropriate.

7. Participation - encourage them to participate.

DEMONSTRATION

Demonstration is a teaching method, done outside.

Teaching, that is, demonstration involve

- when to use a particular product.

- how to prepare it.

- putting confidence in those learning.

- promoting some interest in learning.

Advantages of Open Demonstration

- It is easier to understand.

- If given the opportunity to demonstrate, it makes them to try something new.

Disadvantages

- Some equipment will have to be moved from one place t the other.

- Some don't have the chance to practice.

- If you give post demonstration, the reaction will be unfavourable.

What Demonstration should do

- Understand the purpose of demonstration.

- Characteristics of audience

- Time available.

- Prepare what you want to cover.

- Develop step-by-step plan.

- Go through demonstration again to make sure the explanation clear.

- Bring ail equipment needed to the venue.

- Start with things that are familiar to the audience to gain their attention.

- Put them at ease during demonstration, find out what they already know.

- Show them everything carefully and patiently and stress the point very well one at a

time.
 - Summaries the demonstration and ask them questions. It is always best to ask learners

to summaries.

- Getting Learners Involved

- Let one of them repeat the demonstration.

- If a particular demonstration is simple, don't do it yourself.

- If assistance is needed, it should be one of them.

Assignment: Choose a topic of your own and write a demonstration presentation.

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