UCONN College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

AH 5335 Community Nutrition Education and Behavioral Intervention Delivery for At-Risk Groups
Fall 2023

1. Name: Scarlett Ball

2. Date of placement: October 5th, 10th, 11th, 12th

3. Placement site/description
Vernon Public Schools is a suburban town. Vernon’s school district contains 7 schools and
3,031 students. 50% of students are female and 50% of students are male. The student body
at the Vernon School District is 53.7% white, 10.4% black, 7% Asian or Asian/ Pacific
Islander, 21.3% Hispanic, and 0.2% American Indian or Alaskan Native and 0% Native
Hawaiian or another specific Islander. In addition, 7.4% of students are two or more races.
The district’s minority enrollment is 50% and 39.6% of students are eligible to participate in
federal free and reduced-price meal program.

4. Site mentor
The site mentor at Vernon Public Schools is Elizabeth Fisher. She is the Food Service
Director Manager at Vernon Public Schools. She oversees all things nutrition and manages 28 staff
workers that work across all seven schools in Vernon. A little background is she did her dietetic
internship at the University of Pittsburgh. She always thought she would find herself in a clinical site,
however the competitiveness of Pittsburgh dietetic programs and the oversaturation of dietetic
students, made her respond to an email asking her to apply to Pittsburgh Public Schools. Ever since,
she said should never go back.

5. Language barriers Y/N.

There were no language barriers that I dealt with.

6. Describe the supervised practice placement/activity here. Please weave into your response the
following:

A. Connections to the Nutrition Care Process

1. Assessment: Some issues that arise in the Vernon School District are food insecurity because
of low income. As stated above, 39.6% of students are eligible to participate in federal free
and reduced-price meal program and that is based on family income status. When Paulina
and I went to talk to the middle schoolers a bunch of them said they cooked or made their
own meals. Dinners looked like for example, cereal or whatever they had in the fridge and
many individuals said they went they get home after school they have candy, chips, or
whatever they can find. Another issue students in the Vernon School District might face is
the lack of nutritional knowledge on nutritious foods. Elizabeth Fischer mentioned how there
is no nutrition education she knows of that is incorporated into the school curriculum. Direct
nutrition education would fit well in this site because it can teach kids in all income situations
how to choose nutritious foods/versus energy dense foods. Many times, students at this age
are set in their ways, however by making them aware of nutrition at an early is critical to
prevent disease and therefore the health belief model would apply to this demographic. By
explaining to kids the perceived benefits of choosing nutritional foods will most likely lead to
 individuals to engage in healthy behaviors because they want to prevent experiencing
personal threat or risk. Regarding the school food service/ food programming at Vernon
Public Schools there is not a whole lot. The only thing that Elizabeth really has a good handle
on in supporting local farms around Connecticut and incorporating these products into the
schools. She just hired Kaley, who is the Farm to School Coordinator, so she will be
implementing more taste tests like we did in the months to come. However, more could be
done with nutrition education and additional resources for individuals who suffer with food
insecurity and low income.

2. Diagnosis—Undesirable Food Choices (1G) related to income status and food and
knowledge related deficit as evidence by class participants discussing what they eat when
they get home from school and discussing what a normal dinner looks like.

3. Plan- The community programming that emerged at Vernon Public Schools was Vegging
Sampling Taste Test/ Lesson with the middle schoolers during the home economics classes.
We thought it would be beneficial since many families have low income/ food insecurity that
we provide kids with healthy snack options, since we had inkling that many individuals grab
a bag of chips when they get home from school (which we were right) Also, we wanted to
provide a snack recipe that wouldn’t require putting the stove on since at this age many kids
do not know how to cook or could be home alone since their parents are at work. Also, since
it was Farm to Table month, we wanted to highlight the importance of eating local, for
example you a directly supporting the farmers as well as reducing carbon emissions, since
your food is not traveling as far.

4. Implementation: This was the rundown of our Veggie Sampling activity we introduced
ourselves and explained what dietitians do. We talked about MyPlate and tested the kids
knowledge. Then we had students turn and talk to each other and discuss what snacks they
normally eat after school and what a typical dinner looks like for them, and we had them
report back. Then, we then went into a discussion about the school breakfast and lunch and
asked what they would like to see on the menu, to get their feedback on potential new
options. Lastly, the kids tasted our healthy ranch dip (made of Greek yogurt) and two types
of peppers that were from Cloverleigh farm in Columbia, CT. I feel as though it was super
beneficial for these kids because it got them thinking about nutrition and they can bring these
healthy snacks ideas home and incorporate them into their everyday lives.

5. Evaluation/ Modification:
We evaluated whether the elementary school kids like the Kale Salad by having them put a
sticker up on a board saying whether they loved it, liked it, or tried. Most of the kids liked it
which gave us a good indicator if it kids would eat it as a side in the lunch room. There was not
much other evaluation we did except we did get to calculate the number of breakfast/ lunch meals
served at each school, which sparked our interest in ways in which we could increase breakfast
intake, which can be seen in our logic model.

6. Lessons learned – I feel like the time in school food service went quite well, I was able to
get a full picture of what Elizabeth does as a Food Service Manager. Her job is more a
 managerial roll and utilizes indirect nutrition education versus a clinical dietitian who gives
direct nutrition education, Also, I liked how one day we got to be in the cafeteria kitchen
because I now know how the food is made/ defrosted/ heated up and what is feasible for the
cafeteria staff to do when it comes to implementing new meal options.

B. Competencies you addressed/met.

CRDN 1.5 Incorporate critical-thinking skills in overall practice.
o Calculated the number of breakfast/ lunch meals served at each school for the month
of September.
CRDN 2.2 Demonstrate professional writing skills in preparing professional
communications.
o Actively emailing and speaking with Elizabeth if we had questions.
o Professional with all staff we encountered at schools.
CRDN 2.3 Demonstrate active participation, teamwork, and contributions in group
settings.
o Kale Taste Testing with Paulina and Kaley.
o Veggie Sampling Taste Testing with Paulina in middle school economic classes.
o Working with cafeteria staff.
CRDN 2.7 Apply change management strategies to achieve desired outcomes.
o Discussed with Elizabeth ways in which to improve breakfast options/ lunch options.
CRDN 2.12 Implement culturally sensitive strategies to address cultural biases and
differences.
o Brought up to Elizabeth we need to be more culturally diverse in menu options, some
kids wanted to see Jamaican beef patty and coco bread.
CRDN 3.8 Design, implement and evaluate presentations to a target audience.
o Veggie Sampling Taste test
CRDN 3.9 Develop nutrition education materials that are culturally and age
appropriate and designed for the literacy level of the audience.
o Veggie Sampling Taste test
CRDN 4.6 Propose and use procedures as appropriate to the practice setting to promote
sustainability, reduce waste and protect the environment.
o Veggie sampling taste test- talking about the local food we brought and the
importance.
CRDN 4.8 Develop a plan to provide or develop a product, program or service that
includes a budget, staffing needs, equipment, and supplies.
o Logic model- our breakfast program

C. Connections to class lecture notes

The health belief model is one of the most widely used frame works to understand health
behavior. The Health Belief Model is recommended for nutrition education to increase the impact of
educational programs and I would utilize when implementing education in a middle school
population, such as Vernon. At the middle school age many individuals are set in their own ways,
however by challenging them to think about new things and increase knowledge can allow for these
individuals wheels to start turning and spark behavior change
The article I found examined the effect of the health belief model on knowledge, attitude, and
practice of dietary calcium in female junior high students. The intervention group received nutrition
education whereas the control group did not. Students in the intervention group received eight 30-
minute to one-hour sessions during a two-month period according to a lesson plan based on the
HBM. The results of this study showed that a nutrition education program based on HBM had
positive impact on the knowledge, attitude, and nutritional behavior of adolescent girls. Dietary
calcium intake was found to have increased significantly after the intervention, relative to the
controls. Therefore, this article shows the importance of nutrition education in promoting behavior
change and is successful in the middle school population.

Reference:
Naghashpour M, Shakerinejad G, Lourizadeh MR, Hajinajaf S, Jarvandi F. Nutrition education based
on health belief model improves dietary calcium intake among female students of junior high
schools. J Health Popul Nutr. 2014 Sep;32(3):420-9. PMID: 25395905; PMCID: PMC4221448.

D.
a. Acceptance of your presence at the site
I felt accepted at the site, Elizabeth made us feel comfortable, however I felt as
though she could have given us a little bit more attention and kind of showed us
more of what she did on a day to day, for example like purchasing/ ordering or
ways in which she develops the menus and the criteria she needs to follow.
b. Your perceived value and worth of the activities/lesson
I felt as though Elizabeth was appreciative of our work and coming up with a
very good lesson/ giving her feedback about what kids wanted to see on the
breakfast/ lunch menus.
c. Site mentor perceived value and worth of the lesson /share any of their
comments
- Elizabeth thought our lesson was very valuable and important for the kids
because it gave them ideas on how they could implement healthy snack ideas
in their life at home, since she knows many kids choose the convenient
option, such as chips when they get home.

d. Your comfort level at site

I felt very comfortable at this sight. Everyone at Vernon Public Schools and
Board of Ed was warm and welcoming and overall had a lovely experience.

7. KEY POINT TO END: What I gained from this experience is the importance of knowing the
background and the demographics of the community you are working as it shapes the way in which
you provide nutrition education. Communities such as Vernon who suffer with food insecurity also
have a lack of knowledge of nutrition education and therefore need to be taught how to choose
healthy foods and ways to shop for nutritious options at low and affordable costs, while also
providing resources for food pantries/ food mobiles.

TfdmsrdnrncdnFall23