Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #105323

Armando Valdez, PhD, PRISM (Pacific Research Institute for Social Marketing), 201 San Antonio Circle, Suite 152, Mountain View, CA 94040, 650 917-6600, avaldez@aol.com

This project developed and evaluated an innovative curriculum that improves the method of training for nutrition education paraprofessionals. The project objectives were to: (1) evaluate and select topics that improve the state-of-the-art of nutrition education materials and fill gaps in currently available instructional resources, (2) develop a pedagogically sound, nutrition education curriculum for training new and experienced paraprofessionals, (3) produce an interactive, multimedia CD-ROM prototype designed for self-paced, individual instruction for nutrition education paraprofessionals, and (4) conduct a pilot test to assess user acceptance and instructional viability of this innovative training tool.

The project produced a prototype training CD-ROM that enabled individualized, self-paced instruction to nutrition education paraprofessionals. Nutrition education experts helped to formulate an instructional strategy for the design of nutrition education materials. The curriculum was designed for both new and experienced learners, and addressed the different leaning styles and educational levels of nutrition education paraprofessionals. The training curriculum presented a seven-part lesson that began with an introduction on the presence of sugar in the American diet, presented five learning units on sugar and concluded with a mastery test. The mastery test provided immediate feedback to learners and afforded them an opportunity to return and review the lesson for any incorrect responses before proceeding.

The training CD-ROM was pilot tested with a sample of nutrition education paraprofessionals from the San Francisco Bay Area and the Los Angeles Basin that provided sufficient variation in workplace settings and individual learning styles to afford a meaningful pilot test of the prototype training CD-ROM. A total of 35 respondents were accrued for this study and were administered a self-report questionnaire to assess their experience and perceptions about the training tool. Responses for 23 rating scales were analyzed to determine the extent to which respondents were engaged by the interactive, multimedia prototype lesson and gained nutrition knowledge. The results of the pilot test indicate that the interactive training tool was engaging and acceptable to nutrition education paraprofessionals and that it improved their command of the subject. The findings of the pilot test suggest that an interactive nutrition education training-tool designed for individualized, self-paced instruction is acceptable and effective.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to

• Identify the lesson design process for developing an interactive nutrition education training resource for paraprofessionals.
• Describe the method for integrating multimedia interactive elements into the instructional design of a nutrition-education training tool.
• Recognize how CD-ROM technology can be used to deliver engaging nutrition education lessons to paraprofessionals.
• Describe the results of an evaluation to assess acceptance and instructional viability of this nutrition training resource.

Keywords: Nutrition, Training

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation