Post by Okwes on Mar 22, 2007 15:12:14 GMT -5
USDA Handouts For Hungry Native Americans Are Poorly Written
Native American Times 1/10/2007
www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=85\
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<http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8\
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Booklets and handouts intended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to
help relieve hunger and boost nutrition among poor Native Americans,
blacks, Hispanics and the elderly are of poor quality and are not aimed
at their target audiences, a study has found.
The study, which appears in the January/February issue of the American
Journal of Health Promotion, found that "the materials lacked
cultural relevance for special populations. Almost all materials were
intended for the non-Hispanic white general population," although a
few did address Hispanics and the elderly.
"Used to you had one place to order your materials. I do see more
now but sometimes they will take the same framework like the food
pyramid and use it for everyone," said Kibbe Conti, a Dietician and
consultant for Northern Plains Nutrition Consulting.
In 2004, more than 38 million people lived in households that
experienced some level of what the federal government labels "food
insecurity", a recently coined term for hunger that also encompasses
not being able to afford nutritionally balanced meals, having to cut
portion sizes and skipping meals. Of the total, 13.9 million were
children.
The USDA sponsored the printing of materials to help poor people improve
their skills at alleviating hunger, including signing onto the food
stamp program. But about 40 percent of the eligible population does not
request food stamps because of "the lack of information about
program eligibility requirements," the study said.
Further, many of the materials could not be understood because they were
written at too high a reading level.
"Among the 27 materials initially identified, 20 were either
irrelevant or of low relevance to food security," said the study
team at Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center. "Moreover, very
few of them were intended for minority populations."
According to Conti, cultural relativity perks interest in her patients
and allows her to help them make better choices. She has created
nutrition material for various tribes across the United States and has
found that the symbols for her nutritional material for Native people
naturally gravitate toward the shape of a circle, not a pyramid.
In her work, the California tribes chose the basket as a symbol for a
nutritional guideline. The Woodland tribes chose a turtle. The medicine
wheel was the choice for the Northern Plains tribes.
"You have to have motivation, and I think it peaks their interest
and they are more motivated to follow the message because they recognize
the symbol and they recognize that the symbol has historic basis,"
Conti told the Native Times. "The circle, too, is like a plate. So
the models we are building are a plate of food. So far, the models are
the four basic food groups."
The materials handed out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture may not
be reaching their intended audience. According to study co-author Robert
John, Ph.D., "whatever is being done is not enough. Hunger in the
United States remains a problem. It has risen each year since 2000, with
the exception of last year. On the other hand, there is no single thing
that can be done to fix it."
"This paper points out that current USDA nutrition education
materials could be improved to make them more helpful for people with
limited incomes," said the Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread
for the World, described on its Web site as a nationwide faith-based
citizens' movement against hunger. "People who struggle to put
food on the table could benefit from guidance on how to budget and
stretch their food dollars."
Native American Times 1/10/2007
www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=85\
12
<http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8\
512>
Booklets and handouts intended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to
help relieve hunger and boost nutrition among poor Native Americans,
blacks, Hispanics and the elderly are of poor quality and are not aimed
at their target audiences, a study has found.
The study, which appears in the January/February issue of the American
Journal of Health Promotion, found that "the materials lacked
cultural relevance for special populations. Almost all materials were
intended for the non-Hispanic white general population," although a
few did address Hispanics and the elderly.
"Used to you had one place to order your materials. I do see more
now but sometimes they will take the same framework like the food
pyramid and use it for everyone," said Kibbe Conti, a Dietician and
consultant for Northern Plains Nutrition Consulting.
In 2004, more than 38 million people lived in households that
experienced some level of what the federal government labels "food
insecurity", a recently coined term for hunger that also encompasses
not being able to afford nutritionally balanced meals, having to cut
portion sizes and skipping meals. Of the total, 13.9 million were
children.
The USDA sponsored the printing of materials to help poor people improve
their skills at alleviating hunger, including signing onto the food
stamp program. But about 40 percent of the eligible population does not
request food stamps because of "the lack of information about
program eligibility requirements," the study said.
Further, many of the materials could not be understood because they were
written at too high a reading level.
"Among the 27 materials initially identified, 20 were either
irrelevant or of low relevance to food security," said the study
team at Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center. "Moreover, very
few of them were intended for minority populations."
According to Conti, cultural relativity perks interest in her patients
and allows her to help them make better choices. She has created
nutrition material for various tribes across the United States and has
found that the symbols for her nutritional material for Native people
naturally gravitate toward the shape of a circle, not a pyramid.
In her work, the California tribes chose the basket as a symbol for a
nutritional guideline. The Woodland tribes chose a turtle. The medicine
wheel was the choice for the Northern Plains tribes.
"You have to have motivation, and I think it peaks their interest
and they are more motivated to follow the message because they recognize
the symbol and they recognize that the symbol has historic basis,"
Conti told the Native Times. "The circle, too, is like a plate. So
the models we are building are a plate of food. So far, the models are
the four basic food groups."
The materials handed out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture may not
be reaching their intended audience. According to study co-author Robert
John, Ph.D., "whatever is being done is not enough. Hunger in the
United States remains a problem. It has risen each year since 2000, with
the exception of last year. On the other hand, there is no single thing
that can be done to fix it."
"This paper points out that current USDA nutrition education
materials could be improved to make them more helpful for people with
limited incomes," said the Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread
for the World, described on its Web site as a nationwide faith-based
citizens' movement against hunger. "People who struggle to put
food on the table could benefit from guidance on how to budget and
stretch their food dollars."