Nutrition Education and Counseling
Outline
- Annotation
- Summary
- Importance of nutrition education
- steps of the nutrition education
- Seers education
- Group education
- Unknown words
- Chart
Annotation
Nutrition education shows the importance of eating healthy and essential dietary changes. It aims mostly at the adolescents so that they can adapt to new eating behaviors. The initial stage of adolescent training is precontemplation as they are not aware and it aims in creating awareness (Croll, Neumark-Sztainer & Story, 2001). Contemplation is the second stage that lasts for six months as it aims at increasing motivation. Preparation is the third stage that aims at initiating change within 30 days. Action is the fourth stage that lasts 6 months or less that drives commitment to change. Maintenance is the last stage of the learning curve that advocates for the continuity of changes and new behavior in order to prevent relapse (Croll, Neumark-Sztainer & Story, 2001). Peer education is important as it promotes behavior change. Peer educators have good communication, a mastery of the skill, show interest to work with other teens and are able to identify teens that may need a referral. There is the importance of providing a teen in the input strategy as they will feel ownership in the group ideas. There should be an advocacy of practice behavior in the adolescents in order to empower them and reinforce their behaviors.
Summary
Nutrition education is important to adolescent as it contributes to their psychosocial development. It is crucial as the adolescent strive to achieve independence through their beliefs and behaviors of their peers. It is, therefore, important to integrate the nutrition learning to the adolescent as it places them in a better opportunity to make the right decision of their meals (Croll, Neumark-Sztainer & Story, 2001). The learning aims at bringing up new habits of eating that cannot be effe1ctive without the motivation of the large group. This means that the nutrition educators come up with the best course of training that will facilitate the dietary change.
Learning takes place in stages in order to ensure that the whole process is successful. Precontemplation is the initial stage whereby the adolescents are not aware of the change and have no intention of taking no action. The strategy in this stage is to create a supportive strategy for change, assessing their knowledge, beliefs, and attitude as well as discussing their personal aspects (Croll, Neumark-Sztainer & Story, 2001). Step 2 is the contemplation stage where an action is intended to take aiming at increasing motivation in order to form a new behavior. This stage is important as it identifies any problematic behavior, prioritizing of behavior and identifying any change. The third stage is the preparation stage that takes action within 30 days to initiate a change. Strategies such as taking small steps and assistance action plan make it a success (Croll, Neumark-Sztainer & Story, 2001). The fourth step is the action for the obvious behaviors in order to commit a change. It is achieved through reinforcement of the decision, self-confidence, self-monitoring, and problem-solving. The last step of training is to maintain the behaviors adopted through plans of follow-up, constant reminders, and alternative findings to make the whole learning process a success.
Peer education is influential and strong during the stage of the adolescent. This involves them sharing their own experiences and the little knowledge they have. Therefore it is important to have this type of discussion which is supervised by a health profession so that other peers may adopt the health suggestions in their personal lifestyles. Peers education also overcomes barriers of communication as they are able to use the concept that is best known to them (Croll, Neumark-Sztainer & Story, 2001). Group education should be interactive and in small groups so that they can be effective. In order to create a pattern of healthy eating the education, the process should aim at the long-term goal that can be achieved through the use of active voice, common language, and terminologies, being specific and the provision of illustrative examples will play a major role in the nutrition education.
Unknown words
In order to arrive at my decision, I have used the strategy of reading the whole sentence which at the end of it there is that sense of some meaning. I have also checked and analyzed what the word could mean with my personal understanding replacing it in the sentence thus giving a meaningful idea.
Chart
Cause Effects
Dietary change in adolescent Proper eating behaviors
Nutrition education Healthy food choices
Reference
Croll J, Neumark-Sztainer D, Story M. (2001) Healthy eating: what does it mean to adolescents? J Nutr Educ; 33:193-198.
