Nutrition Education…contd. 
  Nutrition education should be an integral component 
  of the primary health care package, community 
  development/ other development programs.
  The main aim of nutrition education is to encourage a 
  few selected and clearly defined behaviors, e.g.
  • breastfeeding of infants and young children
  • adding oil to the complementary food 
  • drinking boiled water 
  • planting a backyard garden 
  • obtaining immunization
  • giving fruits and vegetables to children 
  • giving a bigger share of food to the younger children
                    Nutrition Education…contd. 
       Nutrition education implies the modification of 
       behaviours concerned with food production, food 
       purchase and handling; meal preparation, food 
       distribution within family, disease prevention etc.
       Behavioural change in an individual occurs in 
       several stages, as given below:
      •    Awareness of the need for change
      •    Aroused interest in the new behavior
      •    Acquiring information
      •    Evaluating information in relation to one’s perceived needs
      •    Decision to make behavior change
      •    Establishment of the behavior change
      •    Desire to change behavior in others
                    Nutrition Education…contd. 
       All above stages are more likely to occur when there 
       is;
      •    Frequent reinforcement of the message (same information 
           given consistently and often, whatever the source)
      •    Demonstration of the benefits of the modified behaviour
      •    Opportunity for group discussion and decision
      •    Peer group support and approval of modified behaviour
      •    Tangible and immediate rewards for behaviour 
           modification.  
            E.g.  gain in weight, improved general appearance, reduce  
            
                    incidence of diseases etc.
   Steps in Planning a Nutrition Education Programme 
 1. Identification of the problem:
 •    The nature, extent and cause of the important local 
      nutritional problems
 •    The characteristics of the population group affected 
      (age, location, religion, etc.)
 •    Any geographical or seasonal distribution of the 
      nutritional disorders
 2.  Educational diagnosis:
      In order to plan the contents and teaching 
      techniques of the programme following must be 
      known:
    Steps in Planning a N.E.P. continued…..
 a. Community’s knowledge, attitudes and practices 
  concerning the identified nutrition problem.
 b. The specific behavior to be encouraged.
 c. Socio-economic, political, educational, demographic 
  and cultural characteristics of the community and the 
  target group as well as their nutritional practices.
 d. Social organization of the community (patterns of 
  leadership, amount of community cooperation and 
  interest, social gatherings and activities