Page 209 - Nutrition Counseling and Education Skills: A Guide for Professionals

Source: US Department of Agriculture.

Members of a household share common biologic, social, cultural, psychological, or environmental spheres,
and it is the task of the dietetics professional to provide a food program that addresses each of these spheres.
When family members cooperate and provide the child with social, psychological, and environmental support,
they greatly assist in fostering the child’s dietary changes and help other family members improve their diet
habits as well. Dietary changes often benefit everyone in the family.29

Preschool-age and school-age children, and even adolescents, are highly influenced by their parents or
guardians’ eating behaviors. Family members can serve as good role models by eating healthy food and
rewarding healthy habits in the child. Children frequently mimic their parents’ food habits. For example, if a
boy sees that his father refuses to eat broccoli, he will be more likely to refuse broccoli. Thus, parents need to
set a good example. The counselor must help parents and guardians to be the role models by helping them
negotiate changes in what is purchased, prepared, and eaten by members of the family.13,15

Nutrition professionals may face some challenges while providing counseling to families. Some clients do
not wish to involve certain family members; stepparents may refuse to participate; spouses and parents may be
overly controlling and negative in dealing with the child; and mutually acceptable times for appointments may
be difficult to arrange for several people. In these cases, other sources of social support may have to be located
and collaborative relationships will need to be formed.

Other concerns may be present. Parents may not be good role models or supportive of their children. They
may use sweets and desserts as a reward or bribe: “Eat this and you can have dessert,” for example. Siblings
may tempt and tease a brother or sister who is not supposed to eat certain foods. Parents who take a food plan
too literally may create a stressful environment in the family, leading to food battles and conflicts. Nagging,
criticism, and policing about food and weight issues should be replaced with positive reinforcement and praise
when correct dietary behaviors are observed.13,15

CASE ANALYSIS 4

Make a list of potential challenges and opportunities in providing nutrition counseling to Mrs. Smith and
her extended family.

Adults, Age 20 to 64 Years

Healthy adults are the target group for the majority of the chapters in this book. Nutrition counselors should
encourage preventive health by providing education using ChooseMyPlate and other simple messages for
everyday food intake.2 The 2015 Dietary Guidelines provide five broad guidelines that encourage healthy
eating patterns as shown in Table 9-1.30 Many online resources are available to download with colorful
brochures that highlight the aspects of a wide range of common topics such as bone health and prevention of
osteoporosis in adult women and men.

The nutrition professional should keep abreast of the ongoing research in dietary patterns. The Women’s
Health Initiative (WHI), for example, is an observational cohort study of women age 50 to 79 years that
continues to follow women for dietary and lifestyle risks of cardiovascular disease. Counseling of

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