Cardiff Peer Food and Fitness Scheme
This project developed a peer led food and fitness initiative delivered to Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups in Cardiff. Jessica Mhesuria and Debbie Lavelle, Community Dietitians from Cardiff & Vale NHS Trust worked in partnership with Rajma Begum from Cardiff Council, to train 10 women from 5 different BME communities on key healthy eating messages.
This enabled the women to cascade the knowledge gained to their own communities in their own languages. This initiative has demonstrated that engaging and empowering people in educating others can be an effective way of promoting informed choice and impacting this on their peers, especially when delivered in their own language.
Aims and Objectives
The aim of the peer led nutrition training programme was to equip 10 women from 5 different BME communities with food and nutrition knowledge and enable them to gain skills to facilitate a food and nutrition workshop to be delivered to their peers in their language.
Partners
Community Dietitians, Cardiff Council, Food Standards Agency (FSA) Wales and the local Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) community.
Methodology
Women were invited to join the project from 5 of the local communities - Arabic, Bangladeshi, Gujarati, Pakistani and Somali. 2 women from each community agreed to undertake food and nutrition training over 8 hours to develop their knowledge and skills.
The training involved key aspects about a healthy diet for the South Asian population; Eatwell plate, 5 a day, fats, sugar, salt and fibre as well as skills to equip them to deliver their workshop to their peers and participate in an Extend demonstration. Extend involves working with the over 60’s with movement to music using graded exercises in a recreational atmosphere.
Prior to each workshop support was offered by the Community Dietitians to plan the sessions and advise on available resources, in different languages. It was also important that the peer leaders discussed the different foods that were more relevant to their community. This made it more inclusive and the peer leaders offered more practical examples that related to their communities.
The workshops included a 2 hour nutrition session focussing on the Eatwell plate followed by a 45 minute demonstration on Extend. This also gave the Extend tutor an opportunity to discuss the training programme for those who were interested in qualifying as an Extend teacher. FSA Wales attended each workshop and provided useful resources in different languages.
Promotion
The peer leader’s achievements were celebrated at an event with many women attending from the local communities to support the peer leaders and key council leaders presenting relevant awards.
Resources
The project was funded by a successful grant application by Cardiff Council, Recreation Service to the Welsh Assembly Government, Food and Fitness grant scheme. £10,000 was received to run a peer led nutrition training programme from 2006 to 2008.
Evaluation
Evaluations were completed after the peer leaders training programme to assess their knowledge and skills. Participants for each community group were also asked to complete an evaluation. Peer leaders were also able to reflect on their own views regarding the workshop.
7 women completed the food and nutrition peer leader training programme. The training sessions were well received and their base line knowledge on food and health improved. Some peer leaders claimed to have changed their own eating habits and their families. When asked how they felt about delivering workshops on food and nutrition they all felt confident to do this and wanted support to plan their session.
64 women from the different communities attended the workshops led by the peer leaders and feedback showed that many of them aimed to:
- Increase their intake of fruit and vegetables especially as they have more awareness about portion sizes.
- Reduce the amount of oil and salt used in cooking
- Reduce the frequency of high fat and sugar snacks eaten by the family
All 5 communities appreciated the workshop delivered in their language, especially as for some of the older women English was not their first language.
The peer leaders evaluations showed that they all felt they had enough time and support to plan their workshops. The style of delivery was appropriate for the community and they are all keen and confident to run workshops again in the future. The Extend demonstration was very successful especially as some of the women had never seen this before. This has led to 5 of the peer leaders and 3 women from the community registering to complete the Extend training course which will qualify them to deliver Extend classes in their community.
The results demonstrated that the aims and objectives of the peer led nutrition programme were achieved.
Lessons Learned
Training members of the community in their own language using a peer led approach has ensured sustainability of the health messages and has enabled the peer leaders to cascade their knowledge and understanding of the concept of a healthy balanced diet to the wider BME community.
Future Developments
Over the next couple of months 5 of the peer leaders and 3 women from the community will undertake the Extend training course which will qualify them to deliver Extend classes in their community. This will be an excellent achievement and enhance the opportunity for these groups of women to undertake physical activity.
Contact Details
Contact Name: Jessica Mhesuria
Job Title: Public Health Dietician
Phone: 029 2066 8089
Email: Jessica.Mhesuria@CardiffandVale.wales.nhs.uk
Organisation: Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust
Address: Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust University Hospital of Wales Heath Park Cardiff CF14 4XW