Diet and Exercise.

Note: This is an individual assignment. In 1,500-2,000 words, describe the teaching experience and discuss your observations. The written portion of this assignment should include:

Summary of teaching plan:
Epidemiological rationale for topic
Evaluation of teaching experience
Community response to teaching
Areas of strengths and areas of improvement

Community Teaching Plan: Teaching Experience Paper

Nurses have the distinctive knowledge and ability to provide community education on various health topic with a focus on improving health outcomes. For the present community teaching experience, the topic of interest was on diet and exercise as a healthy living strategy that helps to improve sleep, manage weight, improve energy and mood, and prevent diseases.  Teaching Experience Discussion Paper While often ignored, diet and exercise presents a good opportunity for managing and preventing some of the health thereby resulting in a healthier community. Community education is able to intervene in this case by improving the awareness and knowledge levels of the community members so that they are galvanized to adopt the healthier behaviors (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2020). The present paper discusses personal experiences in leading a community education project to include the epidemiological rationale for choosing the education topic, evaluation of the teaching experience, community reaction to the education program, and areas of weakness and strengths noted in the experience.

Epidemiological rationale for topic

The community teaching plan was targeted at diet and exercise topic. A review of the community health needs reveals that significant unhealthy behaviors to include unhealthy foods and physical inactivity. This has been reflected by high incidences of obesity and diabetes among the community residents. Although staying healthy is a topic priority for nearly all the community residents, the daily lifestyle choices made determine just how healthy they are. Not everything is in control, but the diet and exercise approaches and habits adopted with regards to health can make the difference between being unhealthy and healthy. It is expected that engaging in the right exercise program (at least 180 minutes of medium intensity exercise every week) and regularly eating the right diets (including nuts, legumes, whole grains, protein, vegetables and fruits) is expected to present significant health benefits (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2020).

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Firstly, it will help with disease prevention as it boosts the immune system. Eating a lot of the wrong foods would put the body at risk by compromising the body’s immune system while eating the right foods complement with appropriate exercise would boost the body’s ability to fight diseases. Some of the diseases that regular exercise and a good diet can prevent include arthritis, many types of cancers, depression, stroke, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and heart disease. Secondly, the regular exercise and right diet would help in improving mood and energy. This is especially true for enjoyable food that would improve mood by causing the brain to produce endorphins that make the individual feel positive and happy. Exercise can also trigger the brain to produce endorphins. In fact, exercise and diet would help to improve overall mental health by increasing brain activity, reducing stress, raise self-esteem, and prevent depression (Selekman, Shannon & Ronkaitis, 2019).

Thirdly, it will help to improve weight management., and this is a key factor involve in managing several other medical conditions to include blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart disease. Finally, it helps in improving sleep management. Sleep issues are not uncommon, especially in the present high intensity world. Diet and exercise would help to address the concern. Exercise helps by burning off the excess energy, making the individual tired and able to fall asleep. Proper dietary and exercise habits can turn restless nights into comfortable nights. Given these reasons, it was determined as prudent to subject the community members to an education program targeted at enabling them to remain healthy with the right diets and regular exercise (Truglio-Londrigan & Lewenson, 2018).

Evaluation of teaching experience

In preparation for implementing the community education program, a PowerPoint presentation was created with comprehensive notes using simple and clear terms that were easy to understand for the audience. On the selected day, the teaching plan was implemented as planned and intended. A laptop computer, overhead projector and screen were used in the teaching. The chairs were arranged socially distant and in a visually accommodating manner that would allow the participants to be part of the discussion while presentation content. Besides that, handouts were issued containing a summary of the education content to accompany the presentation, act as future reference for the participants, and enable the participants share the information with their family members and friends. The participants arrived on time for the teaching program and were seated eight minutes prior to the start time.

The program began with greetings in a friendly manner before introducing the topic and intentions for conducting the education program. Next, the participants were asked to present their opinions on why diet and exercise would be emphasized as a measure for improving health. The majority of the participants were clear on the risks of poor diets and physical inactivity. However, they appear ill informed about the specific health risks. In addition, some of them commented that the risks would only present for older adults and not for young people. The presentation proceeded to discuss the important of an appropriate diet and regular exercise, and the health risks associated with poor diets and physical inactivity. The presentation ended with a question and answer session, before each of the participants were presented with an evaluation tool on their thoughts about the effectiveness of the education program and thoughts on how to improve future programs. The education program was completed on schedule and was closed after the filled evaluations were collected with the educator thanking all the participants for attending.

While clearing the venue of the education program, one of the participants stayed behind and started talking about his family’s experiences with obesity and heart disease. He indicated that most of his older adult relatives are either obese or overweight and suffered some form of heart condition. He added that the education program was appropriate as it increased his awareness and ability to have a healthy life. He was very emotional while talking about his father who had survived a heart attack scare in the previous month. He was very grateful for the education program and talked of sharing the handout with his family members.

Community response to teaching

The education program was a success as indicated by the results of the evaluation as well as changes in behavior following the program. The evaluations indicated that the education program had been informative and timely in providing the impetus for adopting healthy behaviors. A significant change that was noted was increasing enrollment in professionally managed exercise programs conducted in the local gyms. Still, more follow up evaluation is necessary to understand the impact of the education project on the community.

While the education content was considered appropriate and helpful, the attendees presented concerns about the presentation aesthetics and format. Some of the presentation content was offered in fine print that was not easily legible. In addition, they suggested that the presentation should have contained more images to make it more interesting and content easy to remember. Overall, there was indication that the participants become more knowable about the importance of diet and exercise.

Areas of strengths and areas of improvement

A review of the community teaching experience reveals some strengths and areas of improvement. Four strengths are identified. Firstly, the education forum acts as a strength since it allows the participants to communicate, exchange ideas and learn. In addition, it allows the participants to question the presented information and seek clarification. Secondly, the use of the PowerPoint presentation ensures that the participants can follow up on the teaching exercise. Thirdly, the use of handouts acts as a reading material for the participants while at home or when educating others on the same topic. Fourthly, the evaluation tools were useful in understanding the value and impact of the program. Still, the project presents two areas of improvement. Firstly, the program was not well advertised thereby resulting in low attendance. Improving the advertisement would result in more persons becoming aware of the program and subsequently attending. Secondly, Covid-19 concerns reduced attendance with the need for social distancing so that only a limited number of persons could attend the program (Raingruber, 2017).

Conclusion

Diet and exercise for improve health is needed in many communities as they present opportunities for the community members to take care of their health and reduce the risks of ill health. Teaching the members of the community ensures that they are informed about the benefits of the education content and are able to apply the acquired knowledge to improve personal health. The education program was conducted as schedule with all the activities completed as intended. A review of the program’s implementation revealed favorable outcomes in terms of behavioral changes although the participants presented concern about the lack of images and pictographs. Additional reviews revealed significant strengths to include education forums, PowerPoint presentation, handouts, and evaluation tools. Also, areas of improvement were identified to include lack of advertising and communication value of online education programs in the face of social distancing needs for Covid-19.

References

Raingruber, B. (2017). Contemporary Health Promotion in Nursing Practice (2^nd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.

Selekman, J., Shannon, R., & Yonkaitis, C. (2019). School Nursing: A Comprehensive Text (3^rd ed.). F.A. Davis Company.

Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2020). Public Health Nursing: Population-Centered Health Care in the Community. Elsevier, Inc.

Truglio-Londrigan, M., & Lewenson, S. (Eds.) (2018). Public Health Nursing: Practicing Population-Based Care (3^rd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.  Teaching Experience Discussion Paper