Summary
A trauma-informed project in Palm Beach County, Florida, is proposed as a solution to the public health issue of healthy eating, specifically the consumption of the proper amounts of fruits and vegetables and adverse childhood experiences, which can lead to unhealthy food choices and morbidity issues. This nutritional program will take a proactive approach to assist the target group who have experienced childhood trauma and are at risk of engaging in behaviors that lead to poor food choices, potentially increasing their risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain malignancies. This multi-component project will be led by healthcare professionals such as dietitians, nutritionists, and others with the training and experience necessary to help the target population transition from a behavioral to an active process using a trauma-informed approach through a variety of project activities. The social-ecological approach will be addressed through program components, including weekly trauma-informed activities in two locations. Community capacity building will be a key component to ensure the program's long-term viability.
Trauma-Informed Principles
The trauma-informed principles that will be built in this grant are trustworthiness, transparency, and peer support (SAMHSA, 2014). These principles are essential to this exchange program since the leading players comprise the target audience and professionals who will meet with the target audience to provide their expertise. The administration, dieticians, nutritionists, and trainers will assist in building trust and operating transparently, resulting in openness that could foster a healthy climate and enhance conversations and relationships with food, and eventually action. This will take place through 12 weeks of pure interaction in two locations with a series of healthy eating toolkit dissemination, group sessions (journal reflections subjective in nature), and developing gardens (a form of therapy) (e.g., seeds, potting soil, and starter pots). These activities aim to improve the consumption of proper servings of fruits and vegetables instead of “comfort” foods through awareness, tools, and resources to educate and implement positive behaviors and selections. This trust and peer support will develop a space for the target individuals to be transparent in sharing their experiences, discuss secondary traumatic stress related to an event, and allow everyone to advocate for support and accountability without concerns about consequences (SAMHSA, 2014). Through transparent decision-making and program/policy implementation, these principles will allow for success. Continually informing the target about the critical decisions that influence behavior changes helps build and maintain a sense of trust. The peer support integrated into the program will allow everyone to develop supportive connections with those who have shared lived experiences to promote peer support and mutual self-help. This will be accomplished through peer-to-peer, administrator-to-peer, and expert to peer through the outlined program activities. This would give the target the chance to share experiences and learn new behaviors for success through accessible face-to-face and online with no cost associated with community members.
Levels of the Social Ecological Model
The Ecological Model of McLeroy will serve as the project's framework (Simons-Morton et al., 2011). The two levels this program will address are Intrapersonal and Interpersonal. These levels were selected due to the nature of the program, its mission, and trauma-informed approach relying on trust, transparency, and peer support. Level 1- Intrapersonal/Individual. The program will consider the target audience's personal, biological, and behavioral components. This level was selected due to their risk factors which include age, gender, history of eating habits, and feelings/experience associated with others. Strategies by the level of influence- Group sessions that increase knowledge and understanding of healthy food relationships; Program that provides support to improve low-performance areas; In-home programs, resources, and tools that teach skills for age-appropriate nutrition assumption. At the individual level, it considers knowledge of proper servings of fruits and vegetables, the experience of consuming various types of food feeling certain ways, and lifestyle choices.
Level 2- Interpersonal/Social Relationships. This level was chosen because of the interaction between two or more people. Again, the risk factors will include the struggle among food choices when surrounded with family and friends. Other risk factors include family instability, poor communication, and emotionally unsupportive relationships. Strategies by the level of influence- Education and family support to promote positive eating habits; Mentoring program that pairs target audience with experts and peers; A peer program that teaches how they can promote positive norms for food choices in their circle of friends. The Social Relationship level considers interpersonal interactions with family, friends, and social networks with the same goal, which could positively or negatively influence behaviors.
Public Health Framework
The Ecological Model of McLeroy will serve as the project's framework. The project's activities, which include a series of sessions such as the distribution of healthy eating toolkits, group sessions, and the development of individual gardens, will provide the education and skills needed to improve the consumption of proper servings of fruits and vegetables, empowering individuals to make healthy decisions and overall lifestyle choices. Furthermore, the project will go beyond the boundaries of focusing on the individual level of this ecological model because it will incorporate activities such as developing gardens (a type of treatment) in a group environment (e.g., seeds, potting soil, and starter pots). Participants will also share their experiences with family, friends, and social networks to promote reciprocal behavior through interpersonal contacts. Interacting with stakeholders such as dieticians, nutritionists, and organizations to facilitate change will also be watched and addressed as part of the community component of the program. These interactions may lead to policy changes, such as revisions to support change efforts and physicians' potential health insurance policy incentives to encourage proper food consumption (Simons-Morton et al., 2011).
References
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