Julia Lapp

Intergenerational Service Learning With Elders: Multidisciplinary Activities and Outcomes

This article provides an overview of the activities included in a 3-year, multidisciplinary, intergenerational service-learning project conducted as part of a Foundation for Long-Term Care Service Learning: Linking Three Generations grant. Courses from four departments (gerontology, psychology, occupational therapy, and health promotion and physical education) and one interdisciplinary clinical intervention for stroke patients (speech pathology, occupational therapy, and therapeutic recreation) were involved. Service-learning activities were embedded in course curriculums and varied from semester-long activities in group settings to activities involving one-on-one contact for several hours. In total, eight faculty and 225 students worked with 148 elders and 12 different community organizations to plan and implement activities for 357 older adults. Students and elders reported a high degree of satisfaction with the intergenerational activities and indicated that they learned from them and found them of value personally.

Beyond Eating Right: The Emergence of Civic Dietetics to Foster Health and Sustainability Through Food System Change

Evidence about the relationship between diet and health is central to professional nutrition practice. A growing number of food and nutrition professionals recognize critical relationships among public health, environmental quality, agricultural practices, community well-being, food security, and policy. Integrating food system issues into professional practice represents a fundamental transition and calls for a new framework. Drawing from Thomas Lysons work on civic agriculture, we propose civic dietetics to describe the integration of food system awareness into professional practice. We provide evidence of the emergence of civic dietetics and describe challenges to and strategies for its development and integration into practice.

Teaching Food System Sustainability in Dietetic Programs: Need, Conceptualization, and Practical Approaches

Contemporary globalized food systems add new dimensions to the conceptualization of “healthy” food. The need to address biophysical, social, and environmental aspects of food systems is internationally recognized. In a survey of 265 dietetics programs, 68% of 145 educators were interested in sustainability education techniques yet felt inadequately prepared. We report on survey results and provide strategies for sustainability education (1) conceptually, as sustainable food system action goals; and (2) pedagogically, as didactic approaches to teaching that promote the sustainability goals, examples of teaching methods, and a selected reference list on sustainable food issues linked with the goals.

Vitamin D: bone health and beyond.

The “sunshine vitamin” or vitamin D has long been known to play an important role in the promotion and maintenance of strong, healthy bones. Vitamin D status has generally not been a focus of public health concern for many years; reasons include our endogenous manufacture of vitamin D in the skin, fortification of some foods, and the rarity of overt childhood vitamin D deficiency (“rickets”) in the United States and Europe. However, recent evidence suggests that the vitamin D status of many Americans may, in fact, be reason for significant concern. And it is not just bone health that is affected. Research indicates that vitamin D has many nonskeletal functions. Epidemiologic associations have linked vitamin D with the risk of developing a host of health conditions, including multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, some cancers, and forms of depression. At the same time, questions remain about the risks and benefits of exposure to sunlight, supplement use, and food fortification. Worldwide vitamin D insufficiency has been termed a “pandemic” by some experts. Yet most experts agree that, to date, insufficient data exist to support reliable assessment and supplementation guidelines for most subpopulations. This article describes the state of knowledge about vitamin D, clinical implications, screening criteria, dietary and supplemental sources, and recommendations.

Using Food Ethnographies to Promote Systems Thinking and Intergenerational Engagement among College Undergraduates

Abstract This article discusses an intergenerational, interdisciplinary service-learning project that integrated courses on life-cycle nutrition and developmental psychology. Students from the two classes worked in teams to interview older adult learning partners in their community about diet, lifestyle, and personal life events deemed relevant to nutrition and wellbeing, to create food ethnographies based on information learned. As a service-learning component, students provided the older adults with individualized nutrition and wellness plans at the end of the project, based on the older adults expressed interests and concerns. In this paper, we describe how the project was carried out; discuss how learning goals pertaining to systems thinking, sustainability consciousness, and intergenerational engagement were assessed; and present the results of that assessment. Results of qualitative analyses of student work, as well as quantitative analyses of a course survey indicate that the project facilitated student learning related to the three goals.

College students, vending machines, and improving nutritional choices: the effects of adding healthier foods on perceptions of vending machines

How do college students perceive foods in vending machines, and how can understanding those perceptions inform public health efforts to create healthier food environments? Approximately 200 students were surveyed about their perceptions and uses of campus vending machines, before and after selected conventional foods in two machines were replaced with healthier options. No promotions were used, nor were incentives given. Perceiving the food as healthier did not compromise the perceived tastiness or convenience of the food. In particular, students who reported being the most physically active were most likely to perceive food in these locations to be healthier at post-test. Applying Fazio’s MODE theory as an explanatory model, these students’ uses of the foods appeared to become more planned and less impulsive. Overall, self-reported purchasing from the two machines remained steady despite declines in sales from vending machines campus-wide. Results offer insights for promoting healthier choices and sugges...