Lessons Learned from the Development and Implementation of a Parent Nutrition Education Program with Low-Income Latina Mothers in an Urban School District Setting

Abstract

This article describes the steps involved in the development and implementation of a parent nutrition education workshop series for a low-income, primarily Spanish-speaking population in an urban school district setting. Overall, those parents who participated in the nutrition education workshops showed positive changes in their knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and behaviors with regard to healthy eating when compared to parents who did not participate in the workshops. Lessons learned from working with a variety of different groups and organizations to complete the project are presented, including the value of formative research for program design, tailoring the intervention to the population of interest, and developing relationships among key stakeholder groups. Our project demonstrates the benefits that may result from academic/community collaborations.