Nutrition Education

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 HEALTH EDUCATION

• Is the process that informs,

motivates, and help people adopt and
maintain healthy practices, life styles
and advocates environmental changes
needed
• It involves the following
Informing and dissemination
• Dissemination of scientific knowledge
about disease prevention and health
promotion (exposure to knowledge will
melt away misconception)
• Creates awareness on health needs,
problems and community’s responsibility
• Motivation: Is a psychological process
that arouse, direct and maintain behavior
toward a goal
• Inner impulse that induces somebody to
act in a certain way.
• Provision of facts will change their
behavior

N/B it is a gradual process

Aims of health education
Its main purpose is to help people achieve
health by their actions and efforts
Aims
a) To develop a sense of responsibility to
improve health
b) To make community aware of available
health services at their facilities so that
they make proper use.
c) To help people understand that health is a
valuable asset, help them achieve health by
their own actions
d. To alter/change behavior that may
directly or indirectly influence occurrence
or spread of diseases in a cultural setting
e. To provide
individuals/families/communities with
appropriated knowledge to enjoy decent
health, knowledge about occurrence and
spread of disease thus helps to adopt
appropriate prevention measures
f. Create interest in personal health and
well being
g. Create desire to support health education
programs in his area
Objectives of HE
• To inform people or to disseminate
scientific knowledge about health
promotion and disease prevention
• Motivation people to change their habits
which are harmful to health and motivate
them to adopt habits and ways of living
conducive to health
• To guide people to adopt and maintain
healthy practices and lifestyles by showing
proper community practices
Outcomes of health education
a. Awareness about diseases and
correct measures for prevention put
in place
b. Change in attitude towards health
and that of others
c. Changes in behavior (adopting healthy
behaviors and habits, discarding bad
customs that interfere with health)
Principles of health education
• Help people develop interest in improving
their living conditions. (Achieved when H/E in
based on health needs of community)
• Health education methods should encourage
people’s participation. Education based on
active learning
• H/E start at where people are to unknown
• Understand level of education/literacy of the
audience. Use easily understood language,
visual aids
• Understand communication barriers, and
cultural background of the community
Principles of health education
• Reinforce the messages by using different
methods and media. Every health campaign
need reinforcement
• Help people to desire to change attitudes
behavior
• Provide opportunities for people to learn by
doing (participation)
• Maintain good human relations through the
education approaches
• Consider community leaders for success of
any health program
Motivation
• Is a combination of factors that initiate,
direct and sustain behavior towards a
particular goal
• Peoples behavior governed by:
– Person and environment
– Individual’s view of himself
– Individual’s perception of a situation
– Individual’s needs
– Individuals behave in a way that make sense to
them
 Nutrition education
• Nutrition education is a food based strategy which
allows for community empowerment through
information.
• It is a process whereby beliefs, attitudes and
influences are changed to encourage improved
nutritional practices for healthy living using available
resources.
• Nutrition Education is a means of promoting healthier
eating habits by educating people in making the right
food choices and in carefully preparing and
preserving foods which have a good nutritional value
• It takes into account current knowledge and
how to improve it and involve promoting
healthier food choices within cultural
boundaries.
• Nutritional Educational Programs (NEPs)
promote communication of information which
can improve the quality of living
• The aim of NE is to encourage movement from
a knowledge orientation to a behavioural
orientation leading to change of lifestyle that
will embrace healthy eating for healthy living.
 Definition NE
• It is the science of teaching the individual how to
practice proper and correct nutrition in terms of:
1-Knowing the proper nutrition rules.
2-Knowing benefit of each nutrient.
3-More attention to quality and quantity of foods.

• The problems of over-nutrition, under-nutrition,

vitamin, protein and mineral deficiencies, obesity
and diet related chronic diseases progressively
more are present side by side throughout the world
 Nutrition Education Goals
• To create positive attitudes toward good
nutrition and physical activity and provide
motivation for improved nutrition and
lifestyle practices conducive to promoting
and maintaining the best attainable level of
wellness for an individual.
• To assist the individual to identify resources
for continuing access to sound food and
nutrition information.
• To provide adequate knowledge and skills
necessary for critical thinking regarding diet
and health so the individual can make
healthy food choices from an increasingly
complex food supply.
 Aims of nutrition education
• The relationship between the body growth,
appearance, qualities and the types of food they
eat.
• Increased diversification in the food they eat, and
enjoy its taste.
• Planning and preparing of meals rich in nutrients.
• The natural resources of food.
• Assessment of their nutritional behaviors and
beliefs.
• Appreciating the importance of the standard of
living improving programs.
 Prevalence and cost of unhealthy eating

• Poor diet and physical inactivity are

associated with:
– CVD
– Hypertension
– type 2 diabetes
– Osteoporosis
– some types of cancer.
 Approaches to health education
• The persuasion approach – deliberate attempt to
influence the other persons to do what we want
them to do (DIRECTIVE APPROACH)
• The informed decision making approach- giving
people information, problem solving and decision
making skills to make decisions but leaving the
actual choice to the people. E.g. family planning
methods
 Targets for Nutrition education
• Individuals such as clients of services,
patients, healthy individuals
• Groups E.g. groups of students in a class,
youth club
• Community E.g. people living in a village
 Health education settings
• Communities
• Health care facilities
• Work sites
• Schools
• Prisons
• Refugee camps …
 Significance of nutrition education
• Making provision of information, knowledge
and skills about the relationship between a
good diet, physical activity and health.
• Preparation of food, involving ones self in
learning how to prepare food, for example,
taking cooking classes and the consumption
of food is regarded to be one of the most
pleasurable and enjoyable moments of life.
• One should learn to make the differences between
healthy and unhealthy food choices; when a person is
young, then he enjoys sweets and unhealthy foods,
he does not bother about his weight, but when he
grows up, if he has time he gets engaged in physical
exercises and eats mostly healthy food and
recognizes the differences between healthy and
unhealthy food items.
• Education regarding nutrition should also involve the
advantages as well as the disadvantages of the
alcoholic as well as the non-alcoholic beverages;
healthy and junk food items, consumption of fruits,
green vegetables and other well nourished food
items and unhealthy food items such as sweets etc.
• The communication of health messages to
the public is important, whether it is
through educational institutions, training
centers, medical centers, healthcare
facilities, media, communication channels
and so forth. When an individual attends a
counseling center in order to obtain
counseling on some aspect such as anger
management, then also diet and nutrition is
considered to be one of the most crucial
areas that a counselor advises about.
• NE is considered to be an important way of
healthy eating, build good life long habits and
struggle against the problems of obesity, under-
nutrition, over-nutrition, and malnutrition;
generation of knowledge and information in this
area will help people in identifying the problems
that are associated with diet and nutrition and the
good effects of a healthy well balanced diet
Not all foods are created equal!
Anytime Sometimes