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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Ivy A. Ahmed, MPH, CHES and S. Basheer Ahmed, PhD. Pearce Consulting Services, 2301 N Street, NW, Suite 712, Washington, DC 20037, 202 833 3132, ivya@earthlink.net
This program was designed to ultimately decrease morbidity and mortality due to chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes through behavior changes resulting from a nutrition education program. This unique program included a comprehensive needs assessment, a five week nutrition education program and process and outcome evaluation. A nutrition education program was designed for a specific population of adult mentally retarded adult athletes that participated in DC Special Olympics (DCSO) on the track team. A simple program using the food guide pyramid was developed and taught to the group in conjunction with weekly track practice. A pre- and post-test was conducted and there was a group average increase of 5.2 correct answers between the two tests. Participant attitudes improved concerning the importance making healthy food choices. The intervention was successful in meeting the programmatic objectives and this small program serves as a case study to indicate the need for simple and straightforward nutrition education for special populations.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Special Needs, Nutrition
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.