Education in a homeless shelter to improve the nutrition of young children.
OBJECTIVE
To improve the nutritional status of homeless children by implementing an educational program for their mothers and the cafeteria staff at a homeless shelter.


METHODS
Program evaluation including before and after measures of mothers' nutritional knowledge and nutritional quality of foods served in the cafeteria.


METHODS
Fifty-six mothers with children aged 18 months to 6 years and 3 cafeteria staff.


METHODS
Four nutrition classes developed by a registered nutritionist were taught to mothers by clinic nurses; 3 nutrition classes were taught to the cafeteria staff by the nutritionist.


RESULTS
Mothers scored higher on posttests than on pretests, indicating improved nutritional knowledge. Minimal differences in the nutritional quality of foods served to residents were observed after staff education.


CONCLUSIONS
This project demonstrates the challenges of altering the nutritional status of children in a homeless shelter. Despite mothers showing better knowledge of nutritional requirements for children, the types of food served in the cafeteria were an obstacle to them in practicing what they had learned. The cafeteria staff's ability to demonstrate their learning was impeded by the constraints of food donations. Educational strategies may need to be augmented by policies to improve the nutritional status of children in homeless shelters.
Yousey
Yvonne
Y
Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, and Children With Traumatic Brain Injury, JFK Partners University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado, USA. Yvonne.Yousey@uchsc.edu
Leake
Jacquelyn
J
Wdowik
Melissa
M
Janken
Janice K
JK
D002648:Child; D053198:Child Nutrition Sciences / Q000193:education*; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration; D003479:Curriculum; D004046:Dietetics / Q000193:education; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005522:Food Services / Q000592:standards; D006266:Health Education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008612:Menu Planning; D009035:Mothers / Q000193:education*; D009657:North Carolina; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D009752:Nutritional Status; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011638:Public Housing; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires