Community Assessment for a Low-Carbohydrate Nutrition Education Program in South Africa
Eat Better South Africa (EBSA) is an organization that provides low-carbohydrate, high-fat (LCHF) nutrition and health education programs for women from under-resourced South African communities. Community assessments are essential to explore participants’ potential facilitators and challenges of ad...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Nutrients |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/1/67 |
| _version_ | 1797406589274030080 |
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| author | Georgina Pujol-Busquets James Smith Sergi Fàbregues Anna Bach-Faig Kate Larmuth |
| author_facet | Georgina Pujol-Busquets James Smith Sergi Fàbregues Anna Bach-Faig Kate Larmuth |
| author_sort | Georgina Pujol-Busquets |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Eat Better South Africa (EBSA) is an organization that provides low-carbohydrate, high-fat (LCHF) nutrition and health education programs for women from under-resourced South African communities. Community assessments are essential to explore participants’ potential facilitators and challenges of adhering to new dietary behaviours and should be implemented before any dietary interventions. This study is a qualitative community assessment to enable the EBSA program to better meet potential participants’ needs and explore their willingness to enrol in the EBSA program. Sixty women from two communities in the Western Cape were interviewed through six focus group discussions. A thematic analysis was conducted using NVivo 12 software, and four themes were developed around the women’s (1) role within the households; (2) dietary behaviour; (3) health perceptions; and (4) willingness to participate in an LCHF program. Women mentioned that they were responsible for cooking and shopping for their households. They expressed their understanding of healthy and unhealthy behaviours and their dietary patterns. Some women showed concerns about LCHF diets, but others wanted to learn more due to their knowledge of other people’s positive experiences with the diet. There was a general desire to become healthy. However, the women anticipated dietary behaviour change to be challenging. Those challenges mostly revolved around their socioeconomic environments. The findings are intended to inform EBSA (or other nutrition interventions) on what to consider when implementing their interventions in these communities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:28:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9fa41bfdb97844a8836dce2b41029e13 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-6643 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:28:37Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nutrients |
| spelling | doaj.art-9fa41bfdb97844a8836dce2b41029e132023-12-03T14:59:22ZengMDPI AGNutrients2072-66432022-12-011516710.3390/nu15010067Community Assessment for a Low-Carbohydrate Nutrition Education Program in South AfricaGeorgina Pujol-Busquets0James Smith1Sergi Fàbregues2Anna Bach-Faig3Kate Larmuth4Research Center for Health through Physical Activity, Lifestyle and Sport, Division of Physiology, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7700, South AfricaResearch Center for Health through Physical Activity, Lifestyle and Sport, Division of Physiology, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7700, South AfricaDepartment of Psychology and Education, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), 08018 Barcelona, SpainFoodLab Research Group (2017SGR 83), Faculty of Health Sciences, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalonia, UOC), 08018 Barcelona, SpainResearch Center for Health through Physical Activity, Lifestyle and Sport, Division of Physiology, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7700, South AfricaEat Better South Africa (EBSA) is an organization that provides low-carbohydrate, high-fat (LCHF) nutrition and health education programs for women from under-resourced South African communities. Community assessments are essential to explore participants’ potential facilitators and challenges of adhering to new dietary behaviours and should be implemented before any dietary interventions. This study is a qualitative community assessment to enable the EBSA program to better meet potential participants’ needs and explore their willingness to enrol in the EBSA program. Sixty women from two communities in the Western Cape were interviewed through six focus group discussions. A thematic analysis was conducted using NVivo 12 software, and four themes were developed around the women’s (1) role within the households; (2) dietary behaviour; (3) health perceptions; and (4) willingness to participate in an LCHF program. Women mentioned that they were responsible for cooking and shopping for their households. They expressed their understanding of healthy and unhealthy behaviours and their dietary patterns. Some women showed concerns about LCHF diets, but others wanted to learn more due to their knowledge of other people’s positive experiences with the diet. There was a general desire to become healthy. However, the women anticipated dietary behaviour change to be challenging. Those challenges mostly revolved around their socioeconomic environments. The findings are intended to inform EBSA (or other nutrition interventions) on what to consider when implementing their interventions in these communities.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/1/67nutrition educationcommunity assessmentdietary strategyqualitative studylow-carbohydrateSouth Africa |
| spellingShingle | Georgina Pujol-Busquets James Smith Sergi Fàbregues Anna Bach-Faig Kate Larmuth Community Assessment for a Low-Carbohydrate Nutrition Education Program in South Africa Nutrients nutrition education community assessment dietary strategy qualitative study low-carbohydrate South Africa |
| title | Community Assessment for a Low-Carbohydrate Nutrition Education Program in South Africa |
| title_full | Community Assessment for a Low-Carbohydrate Nutrition Education Program in South Africa |
| title_fullStr | Community Assessment for a Low-Carbohydrate Nutrition Education Program in South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Community Assessment for a Low-Carbohydrate Nutrition Education Program in South Africa |
| title_short | Community Assessment for a Low-Carbohydrate Nutrition Education Program in South Africa |
| title_sort | community assessment for a low carbohydrate nutrition education program in south africa |
| topic | nutrition education community assessment dietary strategy qualitative study low-carbohydrate South Africa |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/1/67 |
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