The effectiveness and feasibility of delivering nutrition education programs through religious organizations

As part of a comprehensive cardiovascular disease primary prevention research program carried out through volunteers working within their own religious organizations (ROs), a small group nutrition education program was tested. During the first year of the research program (the Health and Religious Project) 41 lay volunteers from 16 ROs were trained and certified to lead a 7 week (1 hour per week) nutrition education program designed to help the participants decrease their daily intake of saturated fats, dietary cholesterol and sodium. One year afterward the first 64 participants to complete the course successfully provided retrospective (1 year before) and current self reported behavior in areas specifically targeted by the classes. A comparison group from the same religious organizations was selected and administered the same questionnaire. Comparisons between the two groups on the retrospective reports yielded no statistically significant differences in the reported pre-intervention nutrition behaviors. However, comparisons of reports of current nutrition behaviors did yield statistically significant (p ≤ 0.02) differences with those who had attended the classes indicating more heart-healthy eating patterns.

Certification · Family medicine · Intervention (counseling) · Nutrition Education · Physical therapy · Political science · Dietary Effects on Health · Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Gerontology

• Community health promotion

  Open Access•Mary Sutherland, Charles D Hale et al.•The Journal of Primary Prevention•1995

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