International and Community Nutrition Commons^™

Key Elements Of Mission-Based Urban Agriculture In The United States Aimed At Addressing The Social Determinants Of Health, Jordan Losavio

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Urban agriculture (UA) in the United States (U.S.) is increasingly positioned as a multi-domain strategy for addressing social determinants of health (SDOH), yet evidence is fragmented and often focused on participant outcomes rather than the organizational and environmental conditions that determine whether those benefits can be sustained, expanded, or maintained over time. This dissertation uses an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design to clarify (1) what SDOH outcomes are associated with UA in the peer-reviewed literature, (2) which internal and external factors leaders perceive as driving UA organizational success or failure, and (3) which factors predict comparative organizational functioning across a national …

Understanding Motivations Among Sustained Cooperative Extension Partners For Obesity Prevention In Rural Louisiana, Catherine R. Losavio

LSU Master's Theses

Louisiana consistently has one of the highest rates of obesity in the nation with higher concentrations of obesity in many rural parishes (i.e., counties). Due to over a century of visibility and engagement in rural communities, Cooperative Extension (Extension) is uniquely poised to reach remote rural communities disproportionately impacted by obesity. As Extension increases its use of community coalitions and implements its new National Framework for Health Equity and Well-Being, understanding motivations and communication preferences among long-term rural coalition partners for obesity prevention and health promotion has become essential for duplicating successful local-level policy, system, and environmental (PSE) changes. This …

Assessment Of Cash Value Benefits And The Effects On Participant Vegetable Consumption In The Louisiana Wic Program, Celia Rene Bridgeforth

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). The WIC program serves low-income women, infants, and children by providing supplemental foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support and promotion, and referrals to healthcare and social service programs (Oliveira & Frazão, 2015). Revisions of the WIC food packages to include cash value benefits (CVB) that provided WIC participants the opportunity to purchase fruits and vegetables with their WIC benefits. There is significant research that indicates the benefit of F.V. consumption and the impact on diet-related …

Assessing Breastfeeding Knowledge, Attitudes And Intention Among Adult Female Undergraduate And Graduate Students, Kritee Niroula

LSU Master's Theses

This study measured the breastfeeding knowledge, attitude and intention of adult female students of Louisiana State University. Participants (n=1039; mean age 20.12 ± 3.122 years) were recruited to complete the questionnaire. Racial/ethnic representation was White (76.1%), African American (14.3%), Asian (5.5%), American Indian/ Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander (0.8%) and Multi-racial (3.3%). The questionnaire was used to deliver a set of knowledge, attitude and intention items. Participants were evaluated based on their scores in each section. The questionnaire was pilot tested among five students for comprehensibility and understandability and necessary changes were made according to their suggestions. The …

Development, Validation, And Testing Of A Self-Determination Theory Instrument Called The Motivation To Prepare Healthy Foods Questionnaire, Ariana Delong Bailey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The objectives of these studies were to validate and confirm the structure of a previously developed questionnaire that measures the psychosocial constructs defined by the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and then test this questionnaire in a nutrition education setting. The instrument, titled the Motivation to Prepare Healthy Foods Questionnaire (MPHFQ), included items that measured intrinsic motivation, perceived competence, relatedness, autonomy, and autonomy support. These studies evaluated the questionnaire’s validity and ability to measure changes in the SDT construct scores.

The MPHFQ is a previously developed and reliable instrument intended to measure adults’ intrinsic motivation and perceived competence to prepare healthy foods, …