Designing culturally sensitive dietary interventions for African Americans: review and recommendations

Abstract

Despite consensus that dietary intervention programs should be culturally sensitive, relatively little is known about approaches to developing culturally sensitive interventions. With a focus on African Americans, the present review summarizes the existing literature on cultural considerations when working with this population and suggests strategies for the development of culturally sensitive interventions to modify the dietary practices of African Americans. Interventions to improve dietary behaviors and nutritional status among African Americans are needed urgently in order to reduce morbidity and mortality from diet-related diseases in this population. Findings are intended to serve as a guide for future research and practice on culturally sensitive approaches for effecting such changes.

Determinants of fruit and vegetable intake in low-income children and adolescents

“…The included samples also may not adequately represent out‐of‐school youth at increased risk for health‐compromising behaviors, underscoring the need for further research of this type in other youth‐oriented settings. After‐school, summer school, and summer camp programs as well as alternative schools serving students at risk of dropout offer particular promise because of the sizable numbers of low‐income youth served in these settings …”

“…After-school, summer school, and summer camp programs as well as alternative schools serving students at risk of dropout offer particular promise because of the sizable numbers of low-income youth served in these settings. 58,92,93…”

Systematic review of behavioural interventions with culturally adapted strategies to improve diet and weight outcomes in African American women

“…For example, it also considers how language (‘linguistic’), experiences of the target population (constituent involving) and evidence (‘evidential’) could be incorporated as strategies to culturally enhance health behaviour interventions. To our knowledge, only one other systematic review specifically targeting African American women applied this organizational framework, but others have cited this schema as viable for organizing this type of information .…”

A randomized controlled trial of nutrition education to promote farmers’ market fruit and vegetable purchases and consumption among women enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC): rationale and design of the WIC Fresh Start program

“…To enhance community ownership of and the credibility and relevance of messages, WIC participants were engaged as full partners in the development of the lesson (as described below) and the delivery of content (videos feature participants). Owing to the strong oral tradition of the primarily African American and Hispanic women for whom the lesson is developed, key messages are conveyed through participant experiential narratives or firsthand stories [34][35][36].…”