Page 219 - Nutrition Counseling and Education Skills: A Guide for Professionals

The foundation for effective education is based on theory. Theoretical concepts are used in the planning,
implementation, and evaluation of education. Nutrition education focuses on health promotion, the
prevention of chronic diseases, and intervention and treatment. Achieving healthier lifestyles is a challenge for
many.

Learning

What is learning? Learning may be defined as a change in a person as a result of experience or the interaction
of a person with his or her environment. The changes may be in knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and
behaviors, and there are relatively permanent outcomes. Cognitive psychologists view learning as an “active
mental process of acquiring, remembering, and using knowledge.”2 As you read this chapter, for example, you
are learning. Other than learning by reading, the practitioner’s challenge is to determine how to present
people with the right stimuli and experiences on which to focus their attention and mental effort so that they
can acquire new knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors.

How do people learn? How do they retain what they learn? The field of educational psychology studies
questions about the process of learning, including learner preferences and teaching delivery methods. Its major
focus is on the processes by which knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values are transmitted between teachers
and learners. Teachers must “learn about learning” before they can effectively teach.1,2

In the workplace, nutrition professionals provide learning opportunities in a variety of ways. They train and
educate new employees and retrain experienced workers. They also participate in the delivery of educational
programs for other health professionals, students, interns, residents, and paraprofessionals. Practitioners are
concerned with discovering the most effective methods of teaching to influence the dietary behaviors of clients
and the work behaviors of employees. Although theory alone does not guarantee effective education, applying
theories to planning and implementing interventions does.

A major emphasis is on the education of clients. Effective client education includes the process of
influencing behavior and producing changes in knowledge, attitudes, values, and skills required to improve
and maintain health. Giving information (knowledge) or telling people what they should do is not sufficient
to achieve changes in food practices. Counseling and education approaches that will promote changes in
attitudes and behaviors benefitting health status are necessary.

Education takes place at different levels: the individual level, such as one-on-one or group classes; the social
network, such as family; and the community level, such as society at large. Public health initiatives such as
Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide and the United States Department of Agriculture’s myPlate are two
examples of community-level educational programs.3,4

Effective use of educational theory takes practice in helping people make changes in their eating practices
and environments. Health behaviors are too complex to be explained by a single theory. To explain how
people learn, psychologists have developed several learning theories. This chapter discusses behavioral learning
theories and social cognitive theory, as well as memory, transfer of learning, adult learning or andragogy,
learning and teaching styles, the adoption of innovations, and technology as a teaching tool. Many of these
theories and strategies can be utilized together in the same intervention.5

The social and behavioral sciences provide many of the education models used by health professionals.

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