Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring Extension Agent Capacity And Readiness To Adopt Policy, Systems And Environmental Change Approaches, Lisa T. Washburn, Heather Norman-Burgdolf, Natalie Jones, Lauren E. Kennedy, Soghra Jarvandi

Dietetics and Human Nutrition Faculty Publications

Introduction: Enhanced Extension outreach strategies combine traditional direct education programs with public health approaches like policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change. However, the Cooperative Extension system and county-based Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Extension agents have historically prioritized direct education programming and diffusion of enhanced outreach strategies has varied. Extension personnel may lack capacity and readiness for successful PSE change implementation. This study explored perceived acceptability, capacity, and readiness for PSE change work among FCS Extension agents in two states.

Method: A survey was developed framed by selected domains from the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research: Intervention Characteristics, Inner Setting, …

Nutrition And Environmental Pollution Extension Curriculum Improved Diet-Related Behaviors And Environmental Health Literacy, Dawn Brewer, Hannah Bellamy, Anna Hoover, Annie Koempel, Lisa Gaetke

Dietetics and Human Nutrition Faculty Publications

Kentucky experiences some of the nation’s worst health outcomes related to obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other age-related chronic diseases linked with oxidative stress and inflammation, which in turn are associated with poor diet, lack of physical activity, and exposure to certain environmental pollutants. In the Commonwealth, deteriorating infrastructure, inappropriate waste disposal, and potential occupational injury related to mining, agriculture, and other regionally important industries exacerbate the need for residents to have basic knowledge of potential environmental health threats. Unfortunately, community-level understanding of the complex connections between environmental exposures and health is limited, with many Kentuckians unaware that the …