Progress 10/01/08 to 09/30/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: PI retired on 9/30/2011 and is no longer working on this project. PI is unavailable to submit final report. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
PI retired on 9/30/2011 and is no longer working on this project. PI is unavailable to submit final report.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/10 to 12/31/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: A meaningful understanding of the role of visual elements in health promotion campaigns and materials needs to directly address cultural differences in order to assure the effectiveness of health campaigns in rural and low-income communities. To evaluate the effectiveness of any educational intervention, an accurate validation instrument is essential. Our visually-enhanced surveys are especially effective for low-income, low-literacy adults who are often the target audience for these educational interventions. This research is vital, given the threatening and even epidemic nature of the health problems being addressed, as arguably there are few more important topics of research than those which can effectively help people engage in preventative and therapeutic behaviors. During this review period we began the development of a visual database of low-income, multi-racial parents and children, plus photographic sets of the California Plate method. Production under our current NRI grant, Efficacy of Obesity Risk Assessment Tools Integrated with Parental Guided Goal Setting to Maintain Healthy Weight Among Preschool Children:" 1 invited conference presentation, 4 posters presented 2010, 4 new risk-assessment tools. 1. Lenna Ontai, PhD, Stephanie Sitnick, MS, Kathryn Sylva, MFA, Larissa Leavens, Christine Davidson, Mical Kay Shilts, PhD, Marilyn S. Townsend, PhD, RD. My Child At Mealtime: Development and validation of a tool to assess risk for parenting behaviors associated with pediatric obesity. 9th Annual Conference of the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition & Physical Activity (ISBNA) Program and Abstracts 2010; June 9-12, 2010 in Minneapolis, MN. 2. Marilyn S. Townsend, PhD, RD, Kathryn Sylva, MFA, Christine Davidson, Larissa Leavens, Stephanie L Sitnick, MS, Mical Kay Shilts, PhD, Lenna Ontai, PhD. Healthy Kids: Development and initial validation of a risk assessment tool for pediatric obesity prevention among Head Start participants; 9th Annual Conference of the ISBNA Program and Abstracts 2010; June 9-12, 2010, Minneapolis, MN. 3. Shilts M, Davidson C, Leavens L, Sitnick SL, Sylva K, Ontai L, Townsend MS. Feasibility of "Guided Goal-Setting" to reduce risk of pediatric overweight among low-income families: preliminary results. 9th Annual Conference of the ISBNA Program and Abstracts 2010; Conference held June 9-12, 2010 in Minneapolis, MN. 4. Townsend MS, Ontai L, Sylva K, Styne D, Allen L, Adams S, Shilts M, Lamp C, Johns M, Schneider C. Obesity Risk Assessment Tools Integrated with Parental Guided Goal Setting to Maintain Healthy Weight in Children (poster). National meeting for National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) (AFRI obesity grant 2010-85215-20658) principal investigators. Conference abstracts 70-1. June 21, 2010. UD, Denver CO. 5. Invited speaker. Townsend MS, Ontai L, Sylva K, Shilts MS. Guided Goal-setting to achieve Behavior Change associated with Healthy Weight Maintenance among Low-income Mother-Child Pairs. National meeting for NIFA (AFRI obesity grant 2009-55215-05019) principal investigators. Conference abstracts 96-7. June 22, 2010. Univ. Den, Denver CO. PARTICIPANTS: Dr. Marilyn Townsend, CE Specialist for Nutrition at UCD Dr. Lenna Ontai-Grzebik, CE Specialist for Human and Community Development at UCD Dr. Lucia Kaiser, CE Specialist for Nutrition at UCD University of California Cooperation Extension (UCCE) Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Workgroup Dr. Mical K.Shilts, Assistant Professor, Family and Consumer Sciences Dept. CSUS California Cooperative Extension Advisors: Cathi Lamp, Tulare County; Dr. Connie Schneider, Fresno County; Margaret Johns, Kern County. California EFNEP & FSNEP Diane Metz, Yvonne Nicholson, County Advisors in Nutrition Sharon Sugerman, California Department of Public Health Meghan N. Marshall, SETA Head Start, Sacramento, CA Head Start of California TARGET AUDIENCES: Continuing to work with low-income and low-literacy parents on nutritional and parenting knowledge and skills. Many of the families we work with are clients of California Head Start. We have also worked with individuals from food banks in the Stockton area. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Many clients in low-income community education programs have low literacy skills making a text-only evaluation instrument difficult to use and, therefore, questions the reliability of the results of the test instrument. Our visually-enhanced evaluation checklists have received strong interest when presented at national meetings and will be tested for reliability in at least three states, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California. To accommodate the many requests PDF versions are available to be downloaded for use across the US. We received a second NRI grant based on the work done during the previous review period. This grant for 1.5 million dollars over three years began in June of 2010.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/09 to 12/31/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: A meaningful understanding of the role of visual elements in health promotion campaigns and materials needs to directly address cultural differences in order to assure the effectiveness of health campaigns in rural and low-income communities. To evaluate the effectiveness of any educational intervention, an accurate validation instrument is essential. Our visually-enhanced surveys are especially effective for low-income, low-literacy adults who are often the target audience for these educational interventions. This research is vital, given the threatening and even epidemic nature of the health problems being addressed, as arguably there are few more important topics of research than those which can effectively help people engage in preventative and therapeutic behaviors. During this review period under our current NRI grant, Efficacy of Obesity Risk Assessment Tools Integrated with Parental Guided Goal Setting to Maintain Healthy Weight Among Preschool Children:" 2 papers (submitted and published 2009), 2 posters presented 2009, 2 risk assessment tools printed 2009, 3 abstracts submitted for presentation 2010. I was directly involved with 3-7, although the first two papers were the basis for our continued work. 1. Ontai L, Ritchie L, Williams ST, Young T, Townsend MS. Guiding family-based obesity prevention efforts in low-income children in the United States: Part 1− What determinants do we target Intl J Child Adoles Health. 2009; Vol 2 (1): 19-30. 2. Townsend MS, Young T, Ontai L, Ritchie L, Williams ST. Guiding family-based obesity prevention efforts in low-income children in the United States: Part 2 −What behaviors do we measure Intl J Child Adoles Health. 2009; Vol 2 (1): 31-48. 3. Shilts M, Davidson C ,Leavens L, Sitnick SL, Sylva K, Ontai L, Townsend MS. Adaptation of the "Guided Goal-Setting" Strategy to a Low-Income Family Environment to Reduce Risk of Pediatric Overweight. 8th Annual Conference (Portugal, Europe) of the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition & Physical Activity Program and Abstracts, June, 2009. 4. Townsend MS, Sylva K, Shilts M, Sitnick SL, Davidson C, Leavens L, Ontai L. Guided Goal Setting to Achieve Behavior Change Associated with Healthy Weight Maintenance among Low-income Mothers and Children-Year 1 (Poster). National Research Initiative Conference June 25-6, 2009. Baltimore, MD. 5. Townsend MS, Sylva K, Davidson C, Leavens L, Sitnick SL, Chao LK. Healthy Kids: a Pediatric Obesity Prevention Risk Assessment Tool. Based on our research papers shown in 1 and 2 above. Printed April 2009 for next phase of study. 6. Shilts MS, Davidson C, Leavens L, Sitnick SL, Sylva K, Ontai L, Townsend MS. Graphic design: Jessica Shijo and Lynn Kai Chao. Goals for Healthy Kids. Guided goal setting curriculum component based on previous research and our current parent interviews. May 2009. 7. Ontai L, Sitnick SL, Sylva K, Leavens L, Davidson C, Townsend MS, Chao LK. My Child at Meal Time: a parenting tool to assess risky behaviors around child feeding. Based on our research paper shown in 1 above. Printed April 2009 for next phase of study. PARTICIPANTS: Dr. Marilyn Townsend, CE Specialist for Nutrition at UCD Dr. Lenna Ontai-Grzebik, CE Specialist for Human and Community Development at UCD Dr. Lucia Kaiser, CE Specialist for Nutrition at UCD University of California Cooperation Extension (UCCE) Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Workgroup Dr. Mical K.Shilts, Assistant Professor, Family and Consumer Sciences Dept. CSUS,California EFNEP & FSNEP Diane Metz, Yvonne Nicholson, County Advisors in Nutrition Sharon Sugerman, California Department of Public Health Meghan N. Marshall, SETA Head Start, Sacramento, CA Head Start of California TARGET AUDIENCES: Continuing to work with low-income and low-literacy parents on nutritional and parenting knowledge and skills. Many of the families we work with are clients of California Head Start. We have also worked with individuals from food banks in the Stockton area. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Many clients in low-income community education programs have low literacy skills making a text-only evaluation instrument difficult to use and, therefore, questions the reliability of the results of the test instrument. Our visually-enhanced evaluation checklists have received strong interest when presented at national meetings and will be tested for reliability in at least three states, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California. To accommodate the many requests PDF versions are available to be downloaded for use across the US. We were granted a second NRI grant based on the work done during this review period. This grant for 1.5 million dollars over three years will begin in June of 2010.
Publications
- Townsend MS, Sylva K, Davidson C, Leavens L, Sitnick SL, Chao LK. Healthy Kids: a Pediatric Obesity Prevention Risk Assessment Tool. Based on our research papers shown in 1 and 2 above. Printed April 2009 for next phase of study.
- Shilts MS, Davidson C, Leavens L, Sitnick SL, Sylva K, Ontai L, Townsend MS. Graphic design: Jessica Shijo and Lynn Kai Chao. Goals for Healthy Kids. Guided goal setting curriculum component based on previous research and our current parent interviews. May 2009.
- Ontai L, Sitnick SL, Sylva K, Leavens L, Davidson C, Townsend MS, Chao LK. My Child at Meal Time: a parenting tool to assess risky behaviors around child feeding. Based on our research paper shown in 1 above. Printed April 2009 for next phase of study.
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Progress 01/01/08 to 12/31/08
Outputs
OUTPUTS: A meaningful understanding of the role of visual elements in health promotion campaigns and materials needs to directly address cultural differences in order to assure the effectiveness of health campaigns in rural and low-income communities. This research is vital, given the threatening and even epidemic nature of the health problems being addressed, as arguably there are few more important topics of research than those which can effectively help people engage in preventative and therapeutic behaviors. During this review period the versions of the Food Behavioral Checklists were finalized and printed for dissemination. Banna J, Townsend MS, Sylva K. "University of California Cooperative Extension Lista de Habitos Alimenticios,' ". University of California 2008. (Spanish, 22-item scale reflecting the MyPyramid Food Guidance System; Visually enhanced fruit and vegetable checklist in 4 page format designed for clients with limited literacy skills. Available at http://townsendlab.ucdavis.edu. Accessed June 1, 2008 Banna J, Townsend MS, Sylva K. University of California Cooperative Extension `Lista de frutas y verdura . University of California. (Spanish, 7-item scale reflecting the MyPyramid Food Guidance System; Visually enhanced fruit and vegetable checklist in 2 page format designed for clients with limited literacy skills. Available at http://townsendlab.ucdavis.edu. Accessed June 1, 2008. During this period our working group was awarded a NRI grant. My portion of the grant is to help develop a valid visually-enhanced survey tool to then test the effectiveness of nutritional and parenting educational program. PARTICIPANTS: Dr. Marilyn Townsend, CE Specialist for Nutrition at UCD Dr. Lucia Kaiser, CE Specialist for Nutrition at UCD University of California Cooperation Extension (UCCE) Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Workgroup California EFNEP & FSNEP Diane Metz, Yvonne Nicholson, County Advisors in Nutrition Sharon Sugerman, California Department of Public Health Head Start of California TARGET AUDIENCES: Continuing to work with low-income and low-literacy parents on nutritional and parenting knowledge and skills. Many of the families we work with are clients of California Head Start. We have also worked with individuals from food banks in the Stockton area. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Many clients in low-income community education programs have low literacy skills making a text-only evaluation instrument difficult to use and, therefore, questions the reliability of the results of the test instrument. Our visually-enhanced evaluation checklists have received strong interest when presented at national meetings and will be tested for reliability in at least three states, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California. To accommodate the many requests PDF versions are available to be downloaded for use across the US.
Publications
- Townsend MS, Sylva K, Martin A, Metz D, Wooten Swanson P. Improving readability for an evaluation tool for low-income clients using visual information processing theories. Journal of Nutritional Educational Behavior, Vol. 40; No. 4S, 181-186. 2008
- Marilyn Townsend, Kathryn Sylva, Diane Metz, Christine Davidson, USDA's MyPyramid: The Journey from Vegetable Servings to Cups-With and Without French Fries. Journal of Nutritional Educational Behavior, Vol. 40; No. 4, p S70. (2008)
- Jinan Banna, Marilyn Townsend, Lucia Kaiser, Luz Elvia Vera Becerra, Kathryn Sylva, Sharon Sugerman, Diane Metz, Yvonne Nicholson. Validation of a Food Behavior Checklist for Spanish Speakers. Journal of Nutritional Educational Behavior, Vol. 40; No. 4, p. S29. (2008)
- Horowitz M, Smith D, Martin A, Stern JS, Bruhn C, Harris L, Sylva K, Ontai L, Shilts M, McMurdo T, Leavens L, Davidson C, Griffith E, Kaiser LL, Townsend MS. Point of Purchase Technology Improves Low-income Consumers' Food Choices, University of California Delivers, February 2008. (http://ucanr.org/delivers/impactview.cfmimpactnum=668)
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Progress 01/01/07 to 12/31/07
Outputs
OUTPUTS: I have collaborated with Dr. Marilyn Townsend, Cooperative Extension Specialist in the Nutrition Department, and others on finalizing a visual-enhanced nutritional survey, the UC Davis Food Behavioral Checklist. Our approach, using specifically created imagery to enhance the effectiveness and reliability of the reporting with low-literacy clients, is innovative and been proved effective. During this review period Dr. Townsend and I and four county AES Advisors finished a paper, "Improving readability for an evaluation tool for low-income clients using visual information processing theories" which was accepted by the Journal of Nutrition Educational Behavior. We were very pleased with their speedy review and acceptance of our article, which is now in-press. Funding for the first checklist was provided by the California Public Health Institute, The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, and the University of California Cooperative Extension. A slightly revised version
was developed and funded by the Food Stamp Program, with an initial run of 2,000 copies. Jenna Banna, a PhD student in Nutrition just finished the Phase 1 report to the funding organization, the California Department of Health Services, for the "Validation of Items for a Food Behavior Checklist in Spanish." Report abstract introduction: "Currently, there are no rigorously validated Spanish-language food behavior evaluation tools to assess diet quality for low-literacy populations. There is a need for tools with a low respondent burden that can be administered in a group setting. The purpose of the current study is to adapt and evaluate the face validity of a Spanish-language food behavior checklist. The English version was translated using rigorous methods, photos were modified based on client input and new photos were taken as necessary. A sample of Spanish-speaking women from Head Start sites, WIC clinics, and food banks in three California counties completed cognitive interviews
(n=20)." The Spanish checklist is now printed and is ready for Phase II where nutrition educators will use the checklist to evaluate dietary behaviors in low-income Spanish-speakers in the community. I have also photographed parents and children at a Head Start Program Center in Sacramento for "Parenting Style and Childhood Obesity--Further Development of the Healthy Kids Inventory, an Integrative Risk Assessment Tool Designed to Support Positive Bodyweight Outcomes in Preschool Children." We found that most images that could be purchased from stock photography CDs or from the Web were not as specific as we needed for a scientific survey or often contained parents and families who were obviously middle class. This is still in the initial stages.
PARTICIPANTS: Barbara Sutherland, PhD, is the Director of the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program on the UC Davis campus for the state of California. Lenna Ontai-Grezbik, PhD, is a faculty member of the Human and Community Development Department at UC Davis and is a Family Specialist in Cooperative Extension. Mical Shilts, PhD, is a researcher on this project who is also an assistant professor at California State University (CSU), Sacramento
TARGET AUDIENCES: Healthy Kids is targeted at children in preschool via parental responses on their behalf.
PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: The project is funded by the National Research Initiative (NRI), USDA, 2008-2010 = $396,835 to produce a valid and reliable risk assessment tool (i.e. Healthy Kids) for pediatric obesity in low-income families for use by USDA programs.I will be part of the first year of the project with the development of the visually-enhanced evaluation tool. I would continue taking photographs of multi-ethnic children and their mothers staged in low-income settings and portraying the particular behavior described in the text.
Impacts
Many clients in low-income community education programs have low literacy skills making a text-only evaluation instrument difficult to use and, therefore, questions the reliability of the results of the test instrument. Our visually-enhanced evaluation checklists have received strong interest when presented at national meetings and will be tested for reliability in at least three states, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California. To accommodate the many requests PDF versions are available to be downloaded for use across the US.
Publications
- 1. Townsend MS, Sylva K, Martin A, Metz D, Wooten Swanson P. 2007. Improving readability for an evaluation tool for low-income clients using visual information processing theories. J Nutr Educ Behav. In press.
- 2. Sylva K, Townsend MS, Martin A, Metz D. 2007. Food Stamp Program Food Behavior Checklist. Public Health Institute, California Department of Health, 2006. (English, 16 items reflecting the Food Guide Pyramid guidelines; Visually enhanced food behavior checklist in 4 page booklet designed for clients with limited literacy skills).
- 3. Banna J, Townsend MS, Sylva K. 2007. Food Stamp Program Food Behavior Checklist for Spanish speakers. Public Health Institute, California Department of Health Services, 2007. (Spanish, 22 items reflecting Food Guide Pyramid guidelines; Visually enhanced food behavior checklist in 5 page booklet designed for clients with limited literacy skills).
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Progress 01/01/06 to 12/31/06
Outputs
I have collaborated with Dr. Marilyn Townsend, Cooperative Extension Specialist in the Nutrition Department, and others on finalizing a visual-enhanced nutritional survey, the UC Davis Food Behavioral Checklist. A second finalized Food Stamp version was finished this summer. These were based on a 16-item text-based food behavior checklists previously shown to be reliable, valid and sensitive to change. I created photographic still-life images for all of the questions. We are also been working on a Spanish version of this checklist and we are beginning work on a new project the "Parenting Style and Childhood Obesity--Further Development of the Healthy Kids Inventory, an Integrative Risk Assessment Tool Designed to Support Positive Bodyweight Outcomes in Preschool Children." For the questions for this new project I have photographed parents and children at a Head Start Program Center in Sacramento. We found that most images that could be purchased from stock photography
CDs or from the Web were not as specific as we needed for a scientific survey or often contained parents and families who were obviously middle class. The first checklists went through a systematic process, similar to that used with text-based surveys, which consisted of 3 levels of review developed for comparison of potential formats and visuals: Level I-Research and academic program professionals; Level II-Community-based paraprofessionals in the Food Stamp and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Programs; Level III-Food stamp clients. Using cognitive interviewing procedures for the Level III group, the food stamp clients described their preferences for the visuals. The clients were asked how the proposed visuals could be more understandable for them or their peers. What we found most interesting in these evaluations is that the Level I and II reviews resulted in requests for more complex visuals for each of the 16 FBC items than the previous versions. From four Level II
meetings we received 32 pages of evaluation notes on our 16 questions. However, the cognitive testing of food stamp clients revealed the need to be more straight forward, less detail in the visuals. For subsequent studies, such as for the Spanish Behavioral Checklist and for the Parenting Style and Childhood Obesity instruments, we went directly to the clients for initial ideas and for the first round of evaluations. These qualitative interviews and focus groups were lead by Professor Townsend with myself as an observer for many. Funding was provided by the California Public Health Institute, The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, and the University of California Cooperative Extension. A slightly revised version was developed and funded by the Food Stamp Program, with an initial run of 2,000 copies.
Impacts
Many clients in low-income community education programs have low literacy skills making a text-only evaluation instrument difficult to use and, therefore, questions the reliability of the results of the test instrument. Our visually-enhanced evaluation checklists have received strong interest when presented at national meetings and will be tested for reliability in at least three states, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California.
Publications
- It is very gratifying to have such positive response. I am working with Dr. Townsend and several others on the finalizing of a paper on our study and experience with the UCD Food Behavioral Checklist (2006).
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Progress 01/01/05 to 12/31/05
Outputs
I have collaborated with Dr. Marilyn Townsend, Cooperative Extension Specialist in the Nutrition Department, and others to develop a visual-enhanced nutritional survey, the UC Davis Food Behavioral Checklist. Using a 16-item food behavior checklist (FBC) previously shown to be reliable, valid and sensitive to change, we tested a series of formats and visuals (photographs and line drawings) to determine the best evaluation instrument for food stamp clients. I created photographic still-life images for all of the questions. A student then made drawings from these photographs. Over 12 months there were approximately three studio sessions for each question. A systematic process, similar to that used with text-based surveys, consisting of 3 levels of review was developed for the comparison of potential formats and visuals: Level I,Research and academic program professionals; Level II,Community-based paraprofessionals in the Food Stamp and the Expanded Food and Nutrition
Education Programs; Level III,Food stamp clients. Using cognitive interviewing procedures for the Level III group, the food stamp clients described their preferences for the visuals. The clients were asked how the proposed visuals could be more understandable for them or their peers. What we found most interesting is that Levels I and II reviews resulted in more complex visuals for each of the 16 FBC items than the previous versions. From four Level II meetings we received 32 pages of evaluation notes on our 16 questions. However, the cognitive testing of food stamp clients revealed the need to be more straight forward, less detail in the visuals. [It is interesting to note that professionals in this area are trained in text-based survey questions where the shorter the questions, even down to how many syllables are in the question, the more reliable the answers are. However, we now see that this text-based knowledge did not translate when these reviewers evaluated visuals materials.
For our next project we plan start with responses from the Level III clients.] This systematic review process we used produced an evaluation tool containing 16 visually enhanced items in a 2-page double sided booklet that is easier to understand than the text-only version. Funding was provided by the California Public Health Institute, The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, and the University of California Cooperative Extension. A slightly revised version is in-press for Food Stamp Program, which will have a run of approximately 20,000 copies.
Impacts
Many clients in low-income community education programs have literacy problems making a text-only evaluation instrument difficult to use and, therefore, questions the reliability of the results. We are hoping that our visually-enhanced evaluation tools will be more reliable. Our checklists received strong interest when presented at the Food and Nutrition Extension Educators Annual Meeting on July 22 and will be tested in at least three states, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California. We are currently working on a EFNEP version (the federal Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program) and have had positive feedback that our proposed Spanish version of the UC Davis checklist will be fully funded. It is very gratifying to have such positive response. Dr. Townsend and I are in the beginning stages of writing a paper on our results.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/04 to 12/31/04
Outputs
During this review period there have been three ongoing projects:1. Eating Disorders - Eating Disorders in A Disordered Culture was exhibited at the Sierra College Art Gallery in April. The Spanish version of the exhibition continued to travel in Argentina showing at the Municipal Museum of Neuquen, in Neuquen Province. I am looking for venues for the Spanish version to be exhibited in California. 2. Diabetes - Take Care of Your Health curriculum has been reviewed and tested by county advisors in San Jouquin, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. This curriculum incorporates educational information and lessons to help reduce the onset of Type II diabetes in African American populations. Although most of my contribution to this project of photographs, illustrations and overall layout design was done during a previous review period, this is an exciting stage with the curriculum in final review and editing as DANR publication. 3. Nutrition - Food Behavioral Checklist Much
of my energy has been devoted to the development of a nutritional survey instrument that incorporates photographic images as a means to create greater reliability when working with low-literacy adults. The survey will be distributed to approximately 20,000 adults. All of the questions had been statistically validated in a previous study. My task is to create photographic still-lives that will enhance the understanding of each question(there will be two surveys, one with sixteen questions, the other with twelve). Two sets of images for each question have been tested with county extension specialists and their staffs in four California counties. Their responses have been incorporated into a third set of images that will be tested in January beginning with clients in San Diego and San Joaquin counties. Originally we were to test the use of two forms of photographic images, both color and black & white, plus the use of drawn illustrations. Our intention was to start with the photographic
images then have the illustrator work from these. However, we found that the questions necessitated quite complex images that would be problematic to convey through small illustrations. Many more people could recognize a Brussels sprout from a photograph than could from a drawing. As an example of the criteria for one of the questions, Do you eat more than one kind of vegetable each day, I originally set up a cornucopia-like still life. Reviewers felt that many of the vegetables were too small, so I then created a four-image grid format to enlarge the vegetables. As it happened, I could include more variety. The following were concerns in creating this image: - Common foods were prominent - tomato, corn, carrots, potato, etc. - Ethnic foods - jicima, bok choy, bean sprouts, hot peppers, collard greens - Color variations - eating a variety of colored vegetables helps ensure getting a range of nutrients - Kind - meant that only one form of a vegetable could be included (juice, canned,
raw, etc.) - Form of purchase - frozen, canned, fresh I was careful to mix these so that "kind" would not be construed as the form when purchased or form of cooking). Tested surveys expected to be ready in April, 2005.
Impacts
If our expectations are correct, the visual elements for the survey will create a more reliable instrument that will be of great use when working with populations with low literacy rates.
Publications
- 2004 Exhibitions: Sierra College, "Eating Disorders in a Disordered Culture", Rocklin, CA 204 Municipal Museum of Neuquen, "Trastornos alimenticios en un mundo fuera de equilibrio" Province of Neuquen, Argentina 2004
- 2004 Publications: The DANR publication of the Take Care of Your Health curriculum is pending. 2004
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