PA NEN Grassroots Initiative: Testing Peer-to-Peer Nutrition Education

Meg Bruening, PA NEN

Everybody wants to know how to be healthy. Although we, as nutrition professionals, do not have the magic pill people are hoping for, we are looking for the best ways to provide knowledge and a means for positive behavior change. The Pennsylvania Nutrition Education Network (PA NEN) is testing, with the assistance of committees and members, methods that may not be common, but may be the more effective in promoting healthy lifestyles.  

The PA NEN just completed a training session with the staff from the Reading Salvation Army for our Peer-to-Peer Nutrition Education Pilot. We are testing the idea that nutrition education might be more effective if conducted within the friendly environment of one’s own community, taught by peers. A similar project exists in New Orleans, where dietitians train nurses in churches to conduct nutrition education to their fellow congregation members. Similarly, the staff from the Salvation Army are integral to their community: they are the support structure that keeps families together, they are godparents for children with whom they work. One was even the best man in a local wedding last spring. Families come to these workers as long as help is needed, receiving assistance to become self-sufficient through affordable clothes, work, housing, life skills and now, nutrition education.  

From a ten-lesson curriculum, the Salvation Army chose six that they thought would be most applicable to their clients. On April 24, the PA NEN nutritionist led them through the curriculum, reviewing each of the six lessons step-by-step. She ensured that the staff had all of the handouts and materials needed to deliver the lessons. In the coming weeks the Salvation Army plans to conduct the lessons for three different groups. The PA NEN will monitor the sessions from each group to ensure that the material is being delivered correctly and will administer surveys to evaluate knowledge gained from the sessions. If the results prove this is an effective and efficient means of nutrition education, we hope to replicate the program for others around the state.