Nutrition educator adoption and implementation of an experiential foods curriculum

Abstract

Objective: Describe changes in Nutrition Educator (NE) and Extension Agent (EA) motivation, self-efficacy, and behavioral capability over time after experiential food tasting curriculum training. Identify promoters of curriculum adoption, implementation, and future use.

Design: Mixed methods design including surveys, lesson implementation reports, and interviews.

Setting: New Mexico limited-resource schools.

Participants: Convenience sample of New Mexico Extension NE (n = 42) and their EA supervisors (n = 21).

Intervention: Three-hour curriculum training employing Social Cognitive Theory and Diffusion of Innovations.

Main outcome measures: Perceived change in motivation, self-efficacy, and behavioral capability from post-training through 8-month post-training; promoters and challenges to curriculum adoption, implementation, and future use.

Analysis: Repeated-measures ANOVA analyzed perceived behavior change over time. Significance was set at P ≤ .05. Qualitative responses were categorized by theme.

Results: Gains in NE motivation, self-efficacy, and behavioral capability were sustained at 8 months post-training. High adoption/implementation rates (79%) were attributed to strong implementation expectations, observational learning, experiential training elements, and perceived curriculum compatibility. Environmental factors including time constraints, personnel turnover, and scheduling conflicts proved challenging.

Conclusions and implications: Maximizing curriculum simplicity and compatibility and incorporating behavioral capability, observational learning, and expectations into training support adoption and use. Adaptations and techniques to problem-solve challenges should be provided to new curricula implementers.

Keywords: Diffusion of Innovations; Social Cognitive Theory; experiential; nutrition curriculum; observational learning; self-efficacy.