258031 Lunch Bunch: Nursing & Dietetic student-led school-based intervention to enhance the nutritional status and health behaviors of minority teens

Monday, October 29, 2012

Joanne Kouba, PhD, RD , School of Nursing, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL
Diana P. Hackbarth, RN, PhD, FAAN , Loyola University Chicago School of Nursing, Maywood, IL
School-based health centers (SBHC) are a natural venue for interventions to meet the Healthy People 2020 objectives of obesity prevention, exercise and increasing health knowledge. Longitudinal tracking of BMI and blood pressure among 1,500 adolescents by a SBHC serving 85% African American and 15% Hispanic students demonstrated the rate of overweight & obesity to be 44%. Needs assessment revealed that many students skip breakfast, dislike foods offered by the school, lack nutritional knowledge, hold unhealthy food-related attitudes and exhibit unhealthy lifestyle behaviors. In response, nursing and dietetic faculty developed an interdisciplinary nutrition education and obesity prevention program, Lunch Bunch.

The intervention is offered during each of the school's four lunch periods three days a week and serves 120-140 adolescents weekly. A free healthy lunch is provided along with a 30 minute interactive health education intervention. Dietetic interns create weekly menus, rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains to meet dietary guidelines. Undergraduate nursing students and dietetic interns work together to design and deliver tailored health education interventions in a small group setting along with the healthy meal. The program has been expanded to encompass special sessions for pregnant and parenting teens and a second set for overweight students to lose weight under the guidance of a registered dietitian. Outcomes demonstrate changes in attitudes, knowledge and food practices among adolescents as well as gains in the ability to effectively work in interdisciplinary programs among the nursing and dietetic students. This program could be replicated by other SBHCs with external funding.

Learning Areas:
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Diversity and culture
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related nursing

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the needs assessment, program planning and implementation process for an interdisciplinary nursing and dietetics health promotion intervention offered by a school of nursing operated school-based health center. 2. Assess the learning outcomes of the health promotion intervention on both the adolescent participants and the nursing and dietetic students who deliver the intervention. 3. Analyze outcomes in order to revise programs and/or suggest additional evidence-based interventions to better meet nutritional learning needs of minority adolescents.

Keywords: School-Based Programs, Nutrition

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a Registered Dietitian with over 20 years of experience in both medical nutrition therapy and community nutrition. I have a masters degree in dietetics and a PhD in public health sciences. I am a co-investigator on several National Institute of Nursing Research grants and have been the primary investigator on research grants funded by dietetic organizations. I have a joint appointment as an assistant professor at Loyola University Chicago & staff the SBHC.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.