o4: inter-professional learning community: a method of teaching cultural, ethical and communication...

O3 Diet-Related Awareness and Behaviors ofTwo Incoming Freshman Cohorts 10 yearsApart: Has There Been Improvement?Georgia S. Guldan, PhD, Food and Nutritional SciencesProgramme, Department of Biochemistry, The ChineseUniversity of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong,gsguldan@cuhk.edu.hk

Students enter university with their accumulated lifestylesestablished throughout childhood and adolescence. Theseincoming students’ lifestyles have implications about thefunctioning of health promotion efforts for the youngergeneration, while also posing a university educational chal-lenge. This study aimed to examine the diet-related aware-ness and habits of incoming university students as measuredin two surveys conducted in 1996 and 2006 using nearlyidentical questionnaires. Although 1996’s 2611 respon-dents (42% male) and 2006’s 1236 respondents (40% male)showed no differences in combined overweight and obesityrates of around 14%, 2006 had a higher proportion ofunderweight students (25.8% vs. 19.4%) and a lower pro-portion of healthier weight students (60% vs. 66%). Sig-nificant improvements (p�0.05) were also seen the fre-quencies of eating breakfast, drinking milk, seeking healthyeating information and, for the females only, getting vig-orous activity. Simultaneously, however, the frequencies ofdrinking water, eating fruit, eating vegetables, reading foodlabels, getting regular physical activity and having bowelmovements decreased significantly (p�0.05). Regardingnutritional awareness, while significantly higher (p�0.05)proportions of students had heard of the food pyramid andthought getting enough grains and limiting saturated fatwere important, and more were willing to change theireating habits, more of them also thought that vitamin pillswere good for health. Also, while more thought their dietcould affect their future health; fewer thought their dietsaffected their current health. The shifts observed in mixeddirections reflect the changing and complex nature of di-verse, multi-dimensional societal factors influencing life-style and health.

O4 Inter-professional Learning Community: AMethod of Teaching Cultural, Ethical andCommunication Competence to DieteticStudents through an Interdisciplinary,Service-Learning ExperienceTanya Horacek, PhD, RD, Syracuse University, 304Lyman Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244, thoracek@syr.edu;Maria Erdman, mberdman@syr.edu; Lynn Brann, PhD,RD, lbrann@syr.edu; Bruce Carter, PhD,dbcarter@syr.edu; Mamie Hensel, RN, mhensel@syr.edu;Mary Ann Middlemiss, PhD, RN, mmiddlem@syr.edu;Sudha Raj, PhD, RD, sraj@syr.edu; Carrie Smith, DSW,cjsmit04@syr.edu

Teaching dietetic and other health professions culturalcompetence, inter-professional collaboration, and ethicaldecision making requires creative approaches. While stu-dents may learn the required theories and techniques in theclassroom, they must be prepared for real-life experiencesencountered in practice. An interdisciplinary (nutrition,nursing, social work, and child and family studies), non-residential learning community (LC) was established forupper class/graduate students by a diverse team of faculty ofthe College of Human Services and Health Professions(HSHP). The LC engaged students in academic, cultural/social, inter-professional, and service-learning experiences.After an initial weekend retreat for team building, the LCmet weekly, occasionally sharing a meal. The LC discussedcultural awareness/competence, ethics, scope-of-practice,leadership skills, policy and advocacy, and global healthand social issues. The group participated in cultural events,a welfare/poverty simulation, and a service-learning project.One semester, the LC worked with pregnant teens of theSalvation Army and other semesters, the LC collaboratedwith a child care center to provide a health fair. Studentskept cultural/inter-professional journals, and shared withthe group during the weekly discussions. The LC was orga-nized as a three-credit course to ensure involvement and toproperly credit the students. Students enjoyed the meals,retreat, and inter-professional collaboration with studentsand faculty, while finding the journaling difficult. Theservice-learning experiences were successful in providingstudents with practical experiences to challenge their com-petencies and contributed to the goal of creating partner-ships within HSHP and between HSHP and the commu-nity. The LC won a grant and multiple public serviceawards.

O5 Nutrition Education Intervention toImprove Low Fat Dairy Awareness and Intakein College StudentsKavita Poddar, BS, Department of Human Nutrition,Foods & Exercise, Virginia Polytechnic Institute andState University, poddar@vt.edu; Kathy Hosig, PhD,MPH, RD, Department of Human Nutrition, Foods &Exercise, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and StateUniversity, khosig@vt.edu; Eileen Anderson, EdD,Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Instituteand State University, eileen@vt.edu

Dairy consumption is low in older adolescents and youngadults despite its potential health benefits. Aim: Low in-tensity intervention based on Social Cognitive Theory(SCT) and Health Belief Model (HBM) to increase low fatdairy awareness and intake in college students. Method:College students (n�295) were recruited and randomlyassigned to control (n� 144) or intervention (n�151)group. Data collected in January and April 2006 included

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Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior ● Volume 39, Number 4, July/August 2007 Supplement S91