FROM SNE

President's Message - SNE's Values: The "Bedrock" of Our Organization

The derivation and the meaning of the So- ciety for Nutrition Education's (SNE) new vision, "healthy people in healthy commu- nities," and its mission "to promote health- ful, sustainable food choices," have been previously described in this column. In our discussion, the Board of Directors also reaf- firmed the Society's values and goals.

Organizational values serve as the "bed- rock" or foundation of overall policies as well as an invisible hand that guides day-to- day operations. O f SNE's 13 explicitly stat- ed values, three relate to the content of our beliefs in nutrition: food security, optimal health, and nutritional well-being. Seven others relate to the values that underlie ed- ucation and the processes we espouse: lqe-

long learning, excellence, involvement, empower- ment, synergy, innovation, and intervention.The remaining three are "core"va1ues of our or- ganization and, as such, are integral to the policies under which the Board of Directors operates as well as underlie how SNE's management team implements those poli- cies of inclusiveness, integrity, and fiscal responsibility. These key values are perva- sive, underlying all we do and stand for as an organization.

SNE has long been known as an orga- nization that embraces and respects a diver- sity of viewpoints.To carry out this implicit value, the Board of Directors has adopted two goals: to facilitate networking among members and to provide forums for sharing

multiple perspectives, educating members, and advancing knowledge about health, nutrition, and food systems. We do this through the articles published in our peer- reviewed journal, the Journal of Nutrition Education, our newsletter, The Communicator, our soon-to-be operationalwebsite, and es- pecially by attending our Annual Meeting. Be among us as we network and share diverse viewpoints on the theme of the meeting,"Advancing Nutrition Education: Moving toward Healthful, Sustainable Diets," in Albuquerque, N M in July 1998.

Laura Sims, PhD, MPH, R D SNE President, 1997-98

FROM T H E E D I T O R

Editor's Message

About the same time that the Society of Nu- trition Education was being founded in June 1968, I started a career as a Nutrition Spe- cialist with the University ofWisconsin-Ex- tension. Although people had been con- ducting nutrition education classes and campaigns for some time, there was not much attention paid to theoretical frame- works.We did know, however, that there was a difference between the "needs" and the "wants" of the learner. "Needs" were what research indicated were gaps in meeting nu- tritional recommendations and "wants" were what the learner was interested in. Often, the two were not congruent and we had a strong sense of duty to stick to the "needs" in de- veloping our nutrition education program. For example, our audences would want us to give them recipes and cooking instruction, and we would think it was our role to inform them about good sources of calcium in the diet and the role of calcium in the body. We were not supposed to "do recipes"; that was "beneath" our level of training and compe- tence. We used to talk about "sandwiching the needs in between the wants" so that the lesson would attract interest while at the same time people would really learn what we thought they needed to know. We were not very good at succeeding in doing this. Some

articles in this May/June issue serve as a barometer ofthe development of the field of community nutrition. One article highlights the fact that we still worry about the diver- gence between needs and wants and that the way to bring the two together is not always obvious. The article by Mary Korinis et al. describes the coverage ofweight loss and cal- cium in women's and teen-focused maga- zines. The authors point out that although improving the calcium content of teen's di- ets is critical, the coverage about this nutri- ent is lacking in comparison with the space given to weight loss. Magazines are not con- strained by the requirement to address "needs" rather than "wants" or interests; their continued profitability depends on a focus on the "wants" of the readers.

Debra Reed and her coauthors have used a theoretical model to assist with the design of a nutrition education program to improve calcium consumption in low-in- comeVietnamese women.The investigators measured knowledge and attitudes related to calcium sources, barriers preventing rec- ommended calcium intake, and preferred methods of receiving nutrition informa- tion. Focus groups were used as the vehicle for collecting this information. Predispos- ing, enabling, and reinforcing factors were

identified.The development of recipes that combined milk or milk products into tradi- tional Vietnamese dishes is an example of doing what we used to call "sandwiching the needs between the wants" and what is currently called incorporation of enabling factors. Fortunately, we no longer think it inappropriate to focus on food preparation.

The two research articles presenting data about nutrition beliefs and attitudes from

large samples of adults in the United States and Ireland provide valuable background material to help us assess "wants." At the grassroots level, we will probably always have to depend on adding some qualitative techniques such as the focus groups method- ology used by Debra Reed.

Also, use of a theoretical model helps us to formalize factors that are involved in food choice, and increases our chances of con- ducting nutrition education interventions that are not only more effective, but that also show more respect for the learner and the learner's "wants" as well as their "needs." We've made a lot of progress; nevertheless, challenges abound as we strive to mesh the needs and wants of our audiences.

Jane Voichick Executive Editor