Helping Solihull teenagers eatwell
The Helping Solihull Teenagers Eatwell project was developed to give teenagers from the most deprived areas of the borough the confidence to make healthy food choices.
The index of multiple deprivation for Solihull identifies 4 of the electoral wards in Solihull as being amongst the 10% most deprived in England. Local evidence shows that life expectancy varies as much as seven years between wards. Solihull has a food strategy that seeks to reduce inequalities in health.
Teenagers are vulnerable to diet related illnesses through poor nutrition, they are grazers who grab food on the go that is often high in calorie content but not always nutritionally complete. The project aimed to reach these teenagers with emphasis on those from the most deprived wards of the borough and was designed to be interactive in nature through workshops. These allowed the participants to practise the skills needed to be able to choose or make for themselves a healthy snack hygienically.
Workshops involved food preparation ,a 'see and try' session, look at the label exercise, and a hand washing exercise using a UV light box and disclosing cream. Discussions and demonstrations were held to explain the GDA for salt, sugar and fat and portion sizes with respect to 5 a day. A resource folder and recipe book was left with team leaders to encourage further work. Each participant was given an incentive 'goody bag' containing a fridge thermometer, a cool pack, a water bottle, hand cleaning gel along with recipes and leaflets supporting the messages delivered during the workshop.
Aims and Objectives
The aim of this project was to educate local teenagers in healthy food choices and the importance of food hygiene in relation to buying and preparing lunches and snacks. The project aimed to reach 100 teenagers from a cross section of existing groups. Particular emphasis would be on groups from the most deprived wards of the borough, where vulnerable and disadvantaged participants were found.
The principle objective was to develop an understanding of healthy food choices enabling them to make informed decisions about their diet and the importance of food hygiene.
Partners
The project involved a number of partners, both in the planning and delivery of the workshops. The Food Standards Agency provided the initial framework and the finance for the project whilst the Specialist Dietician offered invaluable advice on the nutritional content of the workshops and devised a scoring system to mark each competition entry to determine a winner. Finally the project would not have been the success it was without the willingness and enthusiasm of the group leaders from the Childrens’ Care Services that publicised the workshops and assisted in their delivery.
Methodology
Research was carried out to determine the types of youth groups already existing in the borough. Contact was made with group leaders to determine the nature of the group and whether the group would be willing to participate in our pilot project.
The content of the workshop was developed around existing messages. These included healthy eating through ‘five-a-day’ and the '4 C's. We decided that the workshops needed to be very practical in nature in order to keep the attention of participants. We included a ‘looking at the label’ exercise which we developed around familiar products. We looked at the fat and salt content of a variety of crisps and the sugar content of a soft drink. We talked about the four C’s , placing particular emphasis on hand washing and cross contamination. We carried out a hand washing exercise using disclosing gel and a UV light box. In order to develop their skills in preparing a healthy snack, we included a preparation session.
We arranged for the teenagers to make and taste a range of healthy drinks and snacks with the aim to encourage them to increase their fruit and vegetable intake for the day.
Promotion
Initial research was carried out to determine the types of youth groups already existing within the Solihull Borough. These included those associated with special educational needs and recreational/social groups in the area. Contact was made with group leaders to determine the nature of the group and whether the group would be willing to participate in our pilot project. A visit was then made to each group to assess facilities at the centre and establish any special needs the group might have. A flyer was left with each group promoting the content of the workshop and displaying the date and time.
Resources
The project would not have gone ahead without the grant funding from the FSA. The funding covered all staffing costs, food for each workshop session, equipment such as the uv light box, hand blenders, and a food processor were purchased, along with all the small items of equipment needed for the groups to make a filled wrap or pitta, a fruit based drink and a dip.
Evaluation
A baseline questionnaire was devised and used at the beginning of each work shop. A competition was used as one of the measures to evaluate the success of the project. It was designed as an evaluation of participants understanding of how to prepare a healthy balanced diet both hygienically and safely. Another evaluation measure used was a show of hands, which was carried out at the end of every workshop. Our delivery of the workshop was assessed by the group leaders at the end of the session using a questionnaire.
Lessons Learned
The competition for this group was not a success both in terms of numbers of entrants and the quality of information gathered from them. We would not use a competition with this age group again. Retrospectively as shown by the baseline questionnaire, participants already had high levels of theoretical knowledge. Therefore trying to improve on this would have been very difficult. We purposely kept the questions simple and pictorial due to the perceived abilities of the target groups, however in hindsight we underestimated the knowledge they already had. However, discussions in the workshops showed a lack of practical understanding.
Each group varied both in numbers and ability. Some of the participants had a very short attention span and as a consequence we had to be flexible in our approach to the delivery of the workshops. For example with some groups more time was spent on looking at labels whilst others spent more time preparing healthy snacks.
The workshop was altered for larger groups e.g to accommodate numbers we split the participants into smaller groups and carried out a worksheet exercise which we facilitated. Similarly groups were assigned to make particular snacks and drinks and a buffet style tasting at the end of the session took place. We quickly learnt that no two workshops were the same and that flexibility was key to the success in delivering nutritional and hygiene messages.
Future Developments
Anecdotally although participants have been informed as to what makes a healthy diet and they may now be able to make choices for themselves, one reported that they don’t have “that sort of food at home”.
It is the parents or carers that do the majority of the shopping and provide food, so therefore dictating the diet of the family. A whole family approach is therefore necessary and this may be an area for future project work.
Contact Details
Contact Name: Jackie Paterson
Job Title: Food Safety Team Leader
Phone: 0121 704 6858
Email: jpaterson@solihull.gov.uk
Website: www.solihull.gov.uk
Organisation: Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
Address: Community Services Directorate, Public Protection Division, Council House, Solihull, West Midlands B91 9EG