Practicum Report – Results and Recommendations
Student’s Name
Institution
Practicum Report – Results and Recommendations Section
This Practicum Project aims to assess the issue of food insecurity among low-income families in North Carolina. Specifically, it focuses on one particular non-profit organization, Freedom Family Foundation Inc. (FFF), whose sole purpose is to promote the population’s well-being through mental health, job development, clothing, nutrition, and food drives services. Through its food bank services, the organization has managed to distribute a substantial amount of food to vulnerable individuals. Despite the subsequent implications of COVID-19, the project’s objectives and goals have presented promising benefits to the general population. Nonetheless, several areas and limitations need to be addressed to ensure that it fulfills its intended purpose.
Results
The Practicum project’s chief objective is to analyze the nutritional value of the food being distributed to low-income families. It includes evaluating the levels of fat content, sugar, sodium, and fiber. It also aspires to explore how this food quality impacts the individuals’ wellness and health. In detail, the project hopes to guide FFF in establishing meaningful partnerships with potential sponsors who will offer professional guidance and resources for the project’s success. Another primary objective is to enhance the food bank staff’s understanding of what role food plays in the population’s health. The team will also be presented with training and educational materials to educate them on using healthy foods to prevent certain diseases. Community advocacy is also an identified goal where the residents will be provided with adequate information on unhealthy foods’ effects. Additionally, the community members will be empowered to serve as advocates for the food bank as well.
Based on the research’s findings, approximately 20% of the population was within a low-income status. Due to their financial constraints, the individuals find it challenging to get quality food. Albeit food banks are at the forefront of ensuring that low-income families receive quality food, FFF is faced with a pressing challenge of maintaining the appropriate nutrition contents in their foods. As a result, the prevalence of cases with nutritional diseases has increased exponentially. Several changes are being considered to improve these statistics. The current data collection techniques that have been employed are observation and interviews. As much as these strategies have proven of great essence by providing accurate and credible data, their effectiveness is constrained, especially with the current pandemic. Therefore, in the future, questionnaires or surveys should be incorporated as a complementary strategy. Aside from being inexpensive and practical, questionnaires can cover a broad scope of the target population. The other alternative would be to increase the sample size. In addition to the 100 organization officials, the researchers should recruit several community members to improve their diversity.
Recommendations
Several interventions have been proposed to address and manage food insecurity in the community. For instance, there is a need to create awareness among the food bank’s leaders to boost their food delivery skills and strategies. This staff training can also focus on equipping the workers with tools that help them change the population’s nutritional behaviors. In addition to workforce-training, community education and the enactment of effective policies are crucial. A study conducted by Dave, Thompson, Svendsen-Sanchez, and Cullen (2017) showed that most of the population lacks sufficient nutritional knowledge regarding their food choices. Therefore, there is a need to educate the residents, especially those from low-income households, on the implications of unhealthy dietary regimes and the benefits of eating nutritious foods. Programs on nutritional education and cooking classes can be established within the community where the residents will be trained on maintaining the nutritional value and adopting safe and healthy cooking styles at home. With these programs, the residents will not only change their dietary habits but also put the learned nutritional tactics into practice.
Aside from the community members and the food bank, this project requires individuals in higher positions, like the local or state authorities, to implement the improvement strategies. Their primary responsibility is to supply adequate financial and legal resources to promote the health initiative. The officials could enact policies to increase the community’s supply of healthy foods as part of their local economic development plans (Kaiser, Usher, & Spees, 2015). Examples of such policies include advancing the farmers’ markets, equipping local stores with sufficient produce, and fostering mobile fresh-produce stores. This way, the target population can easily access and afford healthy and nutritious foods. The project has set out detailed strategies on how FFF can reach, deal with, and engage the target population. It is important to note that these individuals face numerous limitations, including financial barriers to healthy foods, unaffordable food prices, inaccessible stores in terms of distance and transport, and limited food resources. Therefore, comprehensive strategies that will address most, if not all, of these issues need to be implemented. Case in point, introducing food drives that penetrate rural areas increases these individuals’ chances to access limitless healthy food sources.
The project’s activities can be generalized to enhance the staff’s skills and competencies, form beneficial partnerships, heighten social awareness, and plan long-term FFF strategies. In addition to the project’s objectives and goals, the food bank’s employees need to stay abreast of the evolving nutritional illnesses and feasible approach to improve the target’s population health. Aside from the educational materials, it is advisable to introduce professionals who have expertise in enhancing the staff’s knowledge. Moreover, FFF should take advantage of the collaborative environment and seek external donors who can provide additional resources. Axelsson and Axelsson (2006) mention that public initiatives involved different organizations, often referred to as “intersectoral,” where various institutions outside the health domain come together to promote public health. The goals dictated in the project can only reach a broad range of the target population if different participants are indulged in the process.
Discussion Six
Communication plays a pivotal role in disease prevention, health promotion, and enhancing the quality of life. It increases individuals’ knowledge and awareness on the health issue at hand, influences their beliefs and attitudes and shows the benefits of changing their behaviors. Although my communication strategies for this project were not well defined, I did put much effort into talking to FFF’s staff and community members to heighten awareness of healthy eating regimens’ benefits. In the future, I would hope to employ briefings to ensure that the involved participants are fully aware of the health issue and the project’s progress. After-action reviews would be of great value in fostering accountability, individual responsibility, and learning from experience.
Most importantly, I aspire to integrate technology into communication through social media. Research has proven that this tactic can reach diverse audiences, collect feedback in real-time, and enhance direct engagement (Heldman, Schindelar, & Weaver, 2013). Another communication obligation that I hope to prosper is ensuring that the received information on the assigned tasks, the project’s flaws and successes, and other vital data is clear and concise. Using hazard identification, I would effectively communicate to the rest on the potential personal, institutional, political, and situational threats and barriers to the project. In this fashion, the staff members can stay vigilant and maneuver around the identified hazards.
With these communication responsibilities, I plan to communicate different kinds of information across all systems levels: executive committee, the organization’s staff, target population, and state authorities. First, general statistics and findings, and the project’s progress necessary changes like inventory adjustments can be communicated to the executive committee members to guide their decision-making process on the next steps to actualize the project’s objectives. As for the staff members, I would present them with educational materials that focus on furnishing their knowledge regarding the health problem and improving their practice skills. Similarly, community members can be provided with information on how they adapt and maintain healthy food behaviors. Social media platforms can help achieve this objective. Lastly, I plan to provide data to the local authority officials, including the permits, legislation, and legal resources needed to conduct the project.
In conclusion, I believe that my Practicum project is an excellent addition to the public health sector. Food insecurity is a pressing problem for the healthcare industry. The findings from this research showed that due to the increasing low-income households in the country, there is an urgent need for non-profit organizations like FFF to improve their food distribution techniques. Several recommendations have been made, including heightening social awareness, enhancing workforce training, and building meaningful alliances. Additionally, effective communication will warrant this project’s success. With the proposed improvement measures, I believe that this project will fulfill its intended purpose in building a healthy community.
References
Axelsson, R., & Axelsson, S. B. (2006). Integration and collaboration in public health—a conceptual framework. The International Journal of health planning and management, 21(1), 75-88.
Dave, J. M., Thompson, D. I., Svendsen-Sanchez, A., & Cullen, K. W. (2017). Perspectives on barriers to eating healthy among food pantry clients. Health equity, 1(1), 28-34.
Heldman, A. B., Schindelar, J., & Weaver, J. B. (2013). Social media engagement and public health communication: implications for public health organizations being truly “social.” Public health reviews, 35(1). 1-18.
Kaiser, M. L., Usher, K., & Spees, C. (2015). Community food security strategies: An exploratory study of their potential for food-insecure households with children. Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk, 6(2). 1-38.