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Health Education Research Advance Access published online on September 18, 2006
Health Education Research, doi:10.1093/her/cyl092
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received October 22, 2005
Accepted July 17, 2006

Original article

Evaluation of a nutrition education intervention for women residents of Washington, DC, public housing communities

Sharada Shankar 1, Ann C. Klassen 2 *, Elizabeth Garrett-Mayer 3, Peter S. Houts 3, Ting Wang 1, Marlene McCarthy 1, Richard Cain 2, and Lei Zhang 4

1 Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 610 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
2 Department of Health, Behavior, and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 North Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
3 Department of Oncology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 600 North Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
4 Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 610 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Ann C. Klassen, E-mail: aklassen{at}jhsph.edu


  Abstract

We designed, implemented and evaluated an educational intervention to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among urban African-American women. Women aged 20-50 years (n = 212) from 11 public housing communities participated in seven 90-min classes with a professional nutritionist. Our prospective pre- and post-test design, with 4-month follow-up, assessed the relationship between attendance and dietary change, using three 24-hour recalls per time point. Mean change in average daily dietary values for fruits and vegetables, calories and percent calories from fat (post-test versus pre-test, follow-up versus pre-test) was compared by class attendance, to evaluate the impact of class attendance on dietary change. Attendance varied from zero (35%) to five to seven classes (42%). Baseline dietary recalls showed average daily consumption of 3.05 servings of fruits and vegetables, 2416 calories and 35.8% calories from fat. No improvements in fruit and vegetable consumption, but statistically significant decreases in total calories and percent calories from fat, were seen at both endpoints. Women attending five to seven classes had the greatest dietary improvements, averaging, at post-test and follow-up, respectively, 246.2 and 324.5 fewer calories and 3.08 and 2.97% fewer calories from fat. Results suggest that, for some residents of low-resource communities, small group interventions are popular, effective vehicles for nutrition education.


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