{"id":8776,"date":"2020-10-21T05:03:34","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T09:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eatrightpa.org\/?p=8776"},"modified":"2021-10-30T03:37:20","modified_gmt":"2021-10-30T03:37:20","slug":"collaborate-to-educate-while-you-communicate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/collaborate-to-educate-while-you-communicate\/","title":{"rendered":"Collaborate to Educate while you Communicate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Caroline Passerrello, MS, RDN, LDN<\/em><\/p>\n<p>As an instructor for the Principles in Nutrition Education course at the University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, I can assure you that a great deal of strategic thinking goes into planning, executing, and evaluating effective nutrition education for individuals and small groups.\u00a0 As healthcare professionals, you probably know this all too well.\u00a0 It is also likely that you\u2019ve thought about your education sessions and wondered, \u201care they [the audience] hearing and understanding what I am saying\u201d?\u00a0 The more we, as healthcare professionals, are communicating a consistent and effective message, the more likely that message is to be received and understood<sup>1<\/sup>.\u00a0 This is why I am excited to see \u201cIncrease the health literacy of the population\u201d as a new Healthy People 2030 objective and to know that many healthcare professionals are working toward the same goal<sup>2<\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p>National Health Education Week (NHEW) is a great time to focus on the importance of a unified message.\u00a0 NHEW promotes awareness of public health issues and a better understanding of the role of health education (https:\/\/bit.ly\/3nkQesh).\u00a0 Did you know there are health education specialists who focus on improving consumer health and wellness through education and promotional activities?<\/p>\n<p>Both health education specialists and registered dietitians\/dietetic technicians teach behaviors that promote wellness.\u00a0 We develop and implement strategies to improve the health of both individuals and communities.\u00a0 Health education specialists offer knowledge, skills, and training that complements the work of others \u2013 like dietitians<sup>3<\/sup>!\u00a0 Certified Health Education Specialists are also eligible to join the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics as Associate Members<sup>4<\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p>What steps do health education specialists and registered dietitian nutritionists take to communicate effectively<sup>5<\/sup>?\u00a0 Spoiler alert: you probably apply these steps every day!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step 1: Identify key audiences and direct your messages appropriately. You may have one goal but multiple messages to communicate based on your intended audience.<\/li>\n<li>Step 2: Develop a message that is simple, clear, and compelling. No matter the audience, people are generally busy and want to know the facts and how this information effects them.<\/li>\n<li>Step 3: Get the facts. Stats, stories and soundbites are extremely effective to support your message.<\/li>\n<li>Step 4: Spread the message. How will you communicate your message? Will it be one-on-one, in a small group, on television, in a newspaper, or blog?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>These four steps aren\u2019t limited to communicating effective health messages.\u00a0 For example, you may want to present an idea at work to both a co-worker and your boss.\u00a0 They are different audiences. They have different positions and different goals, so the message will need to be tailored to each of these audiences.\u00a0 Practice these messages in everyday communication so you can increase the chances that the message your audience is hearing is in fact the message you intended on delivering.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8777\" src=\"http:\/\/dev.eatrightpa.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/oct-eat-right-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Caption:<\/strong><\/em> University of Pittsburgh <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shrs.pitt.edu\/ndms\">Dietitian Nutritionist Program<\/a> students in Professor Passerrello\u2019s Principles of Nutrition Education class learning how to communicate effective messages through food demonstrations at the SHRS Wellness Pavilion in Pitt\u2019s Community Engagement Center in Homewood..<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>References<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><em>It\u2019s not nagging: repetition is effective communication. <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3jQHXda\"><em>https:\/\/bit.ly\/3jQHXda<\/em><\/a><em>.\u00a0 <\/em>Accessed October 7, 2020<\/li>\n<li>S. Department of Health and Human Services. <em>Healthy People 2030<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3jzA2B0\">https:\/\/bit.ly\/3jzA2B0<\/a>.\u00a0 Accessed October 7, 2020<\/li>\n<li>Society for Public Health Education. <em>What is a health education specialist?<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3d4WDmy\">https:\/\/bit.ly\/3d4WDmy<\/a>. Accessed October 7, 2020<\/li>\n<li>Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. <em>Associate Member. <\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/33CPjvl\">https:\/\/bit.ly\/33CPjvl<\/a>.\u00a0 Accessed October 7, 2020<\/li>\n<li>Society for Public Health Education.<em> 4 steps to communicate a message<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3np4EHR\">https:\/\/bit.ly\/3np4EHR<\/a>.\u00a0 Accessed October 7, 2020<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"212\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8778\" src=\"http:\/\/dev.eatrightpa.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/caroline-p-212x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Caroline Passerrello is a Spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and an Instructor at the University of Pittsburgh in the Master\u2019s level Dietitian Nutritionist Program.\u00a0 You can reach Caroline on facebook: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CarolineWestLLC\/\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CarolineWestLLC\/<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PittNutrition\/\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PittNutrition\/<\/a>.\u00a0 If you\u2019d like to read additional effective nutrition-related messages, be sure to visit the Academy\u2019s Media coverage page: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eatrightpro.org\/media\/multimedia-news-center\/academy-in-the-news\/academy-media-coverage\">https:\/\/www.eatrightpro.org\/media\/multimedia-news-center\/academy-in-the-news\/academy-media-coverage<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Caroline Passerrello, MS, RDN, LDN As an instructor for the Principles in Nutrition Education course at the University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, I can assure you that a great deal of strategic thinking goes into planning, executing, and evaluating effective nutrition education for individuals and small groups.\u00a0 As healthcare professionals, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10164,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8776\/revisions\/10164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatrightpa.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}