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Title: BEYOND NUTRIENT ASSESSMENT: PSYCHOSOCIAL INFLUENCES ON DIETARY INTAKE

Author
item McCabe Sellers, Beverly
item Staggs, Cathleen
item Norris, Terrance
item Strickland, Earline
item Bogle, Margaret

Submitted to: Annual Conference on Dietary Assessment Methods
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/4/2006
Publication Date: 4/27/2006
Citation: McCabe Sellers, B.J., Staggs, C.G., Norris, T., Strickland, E., Bogle, M.L. 2006. Beyond nutrient assessment: Psychosocial influences on dietary intake [abstract]. Annual Conference on Dietary Assessment Methods. 12(06):120.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Designing and funding of nutrition interventions are increasingly requiring assessment, not only of current dietary intake but also of nutrition behavioral factors such as intent to act, self-efficacy, and other psychosocial influences. This study presents Will Try, a new instrument to assess factors affecting willingness to try new foods in rural populations. Parents describe their perceptions of their children's and their own willingness to try new foods or new dishes, and in what settings. Older children were also asked to answer the 18-item questionnaire with the assistance of visual and descriptions of new foods. Respondents are asked to rate their levels of eating 'pickiness' and overall diet quality. This instrument was developed following community assessment workshops using the Comprehensive Participatory Planning and Evaluation (CPPE) model for community based participatory research. Rural community members gave unwillingness to try new foods as an underlying root problem in improving nutrition in the Lower Mississippi Delta Region, a medically underserved and minority population with high rates of nutritionally responsive diseases. This and other instruments promise a better understanding of dietary behaviors through greater community participation in the planning of nutrition interventions and social marketing to promote better health through nutrition in high risk populations.