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

Abstract #116183

Syreeta Cherry, MPH, Mary Jo Trepka, MD, MSPH, Violet Murunga, BS, and Brian Kunkle, BS. Robert Stempel School of Public Health, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, HLSII 595, Miami, FL 33199, 570-436-0293, bkunk001@fiu.edu

There are an estimated 76 million illnesses and 5,000 deaths annually due to foodborne illness in the United States. Pregnant women and young children are at an increased risk for acquiring food poisoning and developing severe outcomes. Estimates on the occurrence of food poisoning as a result of the mishandling of food in the home are unknown. Focus groups were conducted at a Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinic in Carol City, Fl to determine beliefs about food safety and barriers to practicing good food safety. Each of the five focus groups consisted of 4-9 participants all who were women, primarily African American and Hispanic, aged 18-55 years. The health belief model was used as a conceptual framework for the development of the discussion guide for the focus group. The results showed that two important factors that affect food handling behaviors of WIC clients are food handling practices learned from their mother and eagerness to practice good health habits during their first pregnancy. Storing perishable foods in the refrigerator within two hours and cooking meat products to proper temperature were two food safety behaviors identified in the focus groups that were the least often followed. Focus groups can be very useful in designing health education curricula.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Identify food safety behaviors least practiced by WIC clients
• 2. Recognize the importance of food safety practices in WIC clients
• 3. List the most common barriers to practicing good food safety
• 4. Describe common beliefs about food safety among WIC clients

Keywords: WIC, Public Health Curricula

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.