UCONN College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Department of Allied Health Sciences/Coordinated Program in Dietetics

Diet 3235/Reflection Template

1. Name
Ashton Christopher
2. Date of placement
3/27/2018
3. Placement site/description (urban, suburban, demographics, i.e. gender, age,
race/ethnicity, etc)

The first location on this day was MANNA, MANNA is in the suburban area of Hartford CT. At
Manna I provided indirect nutrition to a culturally diverse audience consisting of middle aged
male and female majority black and Hispanic and the minority being white. Indirect nutrition
education was provided at the end of the assembly line of their grocery shopping. MANNA is a
food shelf facility where participants grab items for their meals.
The next location that I went to that day was Charter Oak which was also located in the suburban
area of Hartford. At Charter Oak I did a food preparation of a healthy hot dog stir fry with no
added sodium and delivered a power point presentation of all of the lessons that they learned
throughout the entire month. The Audience was entirely female 99% Hispanic and 1% black out
of 16 total people . Majority did not speak English so there was a translator provided. The
majority of the audience were middle aged. Charter Oat is a nice facility with good security
because it was not easy to just walk in and give a presentation. The place in which I delivered the
presentation was a nice demoing kitchen with a television which was utilized for the presentation
and the cooking demonstration.

4. Site mentor:

Rosa Santiago/ Lorie Reardon

5. Language barriers Y/N. If yes, please explain how you dealt with the challenge.
At MANNA the issue only came up once and but assistance was provided by the site director
who spoke Spanish and was willing to help also, the flyers in which we handed to the shopper
was in Spanish.
Charter Oak their was a hired translator that helped us throughout the entire demonstration.

6. Please describe the supervised practice placement/activity here, remembering that the
planning the day before plays a role in the total experience. Please weave into your
response the following:
A. Connections to the Nutrition Care Process
a. Please list out the NCP “steps” and discuss in relation to your placement:
i. Assessment---
MANNA and Charter Oak Health Center are companies that promote
healthier communities by providing healthcare regardless of their
ability to pay. MANNA promotes healthier communities by providing
nutritious food for people in need. Charter Oak Health Center
promotes healthier communities in many ways and even by providing
nutrition education. The Participants that utilize the company meet the
qualifications of lower social economic status. People of lower social
economic status lack funds to purchase healthy foods and lack time to
become knowledgeable on making healthy meals. Getting enough food
to last them for the month is an issue for the people in this area even
with government assistance. Another issue within this area is that it is
located within a food desert. Some participants do not have cars so it is
difficult to make it to the grocery store especially utilizing public
transportation. What is accessible is their local corner store which does
not have a wide variety of healthy options. So based on the amount of
energy (physically and financially) the unhealthy foods at the grocery
store are not consciously thought of as bad but it is rather thought of as
needed. People that grow up in these areas are sometimes all that the
 know. According to the Health Belief Model, people will be more
likely to change if they understood the association and unhealthy foods
and common illness and how to prevent these common illnesses by
utilizing food. Because we are providing education at these large
facilities that are already helping we are not informing enough people
in need. Because we are not informing the environment around people
of MANNA and Charter Oak we are not instilling good self-efficacy,
cause to action, and maintenance leaving participants exposed to
unhealthy behaviors of their environment. more people will believe
that are able to make a change and maintain that change if healthy
behaviors are exposed in their common environment.
This is the situation that I assessed at these facilities but my lesson
did not pertain to this assessment. My lesson pertained to everything
that they have already learned with the topic being weight loss, reading
nutrition labels, and smart shopping. These topics do not help with self
efficacy and maintenance when compared to my actual assessment
when getting to a location that provides healthy materials are difficult
for the audience.
ii. Diagnosis—
Impaired ability to prepare healthy foods/meals related to access to
healthy foods and knowledge of healthy foods as evidence by food
desert in local environment and verbalized lack of nutrition
knowledge.

iii. Plan—
a. Meet with partnered dietetic students and community nutrition
staff to review assignment
b. Assess demographics and number of participants at both
MANNA and Charter Oak.
c. Gathering of material
 a. Gather measurement kit and serving size handout for
MANNA.
b. Grocery shop affordable hot dog meal, power point
creation, pre and post test creation, certificate creation
for Charter Oak
d. Review transportation and timing of arrival and setup.
e. Arrive at site
a. Arrive at MANNA and set up table
b. Arrive at Charter Oak go thru security and have enough
time to set up and prepare for lesson
f. Engage with clients
a. Approach people from MANNA and provide quick
education of serving sizes and provide handout
b. Provide fun inviting lesson with check on learning and
good food to eat at Charter Oak
g. Break down site.
h. Evaluate success of education and develop modifications for
next time.
iv. Implementation—
At Manna the table was in the appropriate location for us to deliver our
lesson. The area needed a little straightening up before set up. We laid
out the table cloth and on top of it laid out our models and handouts.
The staff said that they will inform the client to get a lesson from us at
the end of their shopping in which every client was happy to do so. We
taught and answered concerns about serving sized and provided a
sample of peanut butter on bread to promote what MANNA had to
offer at the end out lesson. We educated tips to the patient on tricks on
how to not over eat and how to properly read labels to know the actual
serving size. Their was one customer who wanted to know how to put
on weight, so we educated him on the best way possible to put on
weight.
 At Charter out we informed the security that we are here for the lesson
and had to weight for a while to get permission to head upstairs.
Upstairs is where we had to fill out an agreement form for being the in
the building. After the agreement form our site supervisor came and
got us, took are flash drive and brought it to IT in order to present it.
we arrived to the kitchen where we were to set up our presentation,
material and also items for the food demo. My dietetics partner and I
quickly rehearsed before clients arrived. When clients arrived their
was a sign in sheet in which every one signed. Because majority of the
class was Spanish speaking their was a translator provided for us. gave
out the post test to analyze what the clients knew before we gave the
lesson. As soon as the client were done with the post test we started
our power point presentation. We provided an engaging lesson full of
games and rewards to review the lessons that they had from previous
weeks. After the lesson the clients took a post test. while the clients
took their post test I set up for the food demo. Once everyone was
done with their post test I provided a food demo. What was mad in the
this demo was a hot dog stir fry. What was in this recipe was turkey
hot dogs, brown rice, red and green peppers, and herb seasoning.
Everything was already cook the food just had to be warmed up. I
warmed up the food as if I was cooking the recipe from scratch
v. Evaluation/Modification—important section --
At MANNA our objective was to provide indirect education to clients
at the end of their shopping. We were able to speak to every person
that went through the assembly line to grocery shop. Communication
with each client was brief but really informative. The topic of
discussion was serving/portion size and it was presented to all 11
shoppers and 100% of the shopper toke home education materials with
them as they departed. Each participant expressed how grateful they
were with the information that we have provided to them.
 At Charter Oak our objective was to proved direct nutrition education
to 11 people while evaluating their knowledge with a pre and post test.
Participants were counted by the signing in on the sign in sheet. The
lesson consisted of a review of information that the participants have
previously learned. The power point presentation had a series of
questions designed in a jeopardy format slide by slide with additional
review sections before the question. Every time the participant get the
question right they received a prize which was a pencil or an apple
notepad. After the power point presentation the participants received a
post test for so that we can evaluate what they have learned afterwards.
Next, I provided a demo consisting of a low sodium hotdog stir fry
recipe.

vi. Lessons learned—important section—

Tabeling at MANNA went very well. From other students that
previously tabled at MANNA said that they do not usually have many
customers that come and shop but, the day that we tabled was actually
busy. We had more handouts than we needed which is not a bad thing.
If we grabbed materials based on the usual traffic flow at MANNA we
wouldn’t have had enough handouts for everyone. Our location of the
table was good and the customers did not seem to be in a rush when
talking to us. Most of the customers had questions of their own after
we gave our tabling presentation about sample sizes. Michelle and I
worked very well together when it comes to talking to customers and
audiences which is why I think it engaged customers to be patient and
ask additional questions. The skill of communication seems to be the
key for direct and indirect nutrition counseling.
Charter Oak also went very smoothly. Everyone showed up on time
but, the pre test took a long time in the beginning. I initially thought
that a time limit on the test would be a good idea but now I think
differently. Even when the pretest took longer than expected the entire
 class ended at a good time. during the food demo it I forgot to initially
put on gloves even though I washed my hands. I learned that people
feel more comfortable and that it is more sanitary with the use of
gloves no matter what.

B. Competencies you addressed/met.

CRDN. 1.6 Incorporate critical-thinking skills in overall practice
 Critical thinking was needed at MANNA when clients had their own questions that were slightly off top
The tabling lesson

CRD 2.2 Demonstrate professional writing skills in preparing professional communications

(Note: Examples include research manuscripts, project proposals, education materials,
policies and procedures)
 Developed pre and post test
 Developed certificates
CRDN 2.3 Demonstrate active participation, teamwork and contributions in group settings
 Programs and organization of the development of the programs were organized with fellow dietetic stud
CRDN 2.5 Assign duties to NDTRs and/or support personnel as appropriate
 Programs and organization of the development of the programs were organized with fellow dietetic stud
CRDN 2.7 Apply leadership skills to achieve desired outcomes
 Planned how to introduce and how to deliver food demo by eliminating awkward silence
CRDN 2.9 Participate in professional and community organizations
 Participated in MANNA and Charter oak which are both professional community organizations
CRDN 2.10 Demonstrate professional attributes in all areas of practice
 Dressed professional
 Gave professional advice that are within the scope of practice
CRDN 2.11 Show cultural competence/sensitivity in interactions with clients, colleagues and staff
 Aware of cultural difference and able to relate to popular foods for many ethnic groups as examples on h
Improve health
CRDN 3.1 Perform the Nutrition Care Process and use standardized nutrition language for
individuals, groups and populations of differing ages and health status, in a variety of settings.
 Nutrition care process was utilized at Charter Oak
 Standardized nutrition language for individuals, groups and populations of differing ages and health sta
Was used at both MANNA and Charter oak
CRDN 3.2 Conduct nutrition focused physical exams
 Always focusing on nutrition focused physical exam but, ,not providing nutritional advice unless menti
By the client
CRDN 3.3 Demonstrate effective communications skills for clinical and customer services in a
variety of formats
 Communication skills were needed on every site this semester
CRDN 3.4 Design, implement and evaluate presentations to a target audience.
 Presentation was conducted at Charter Oak
CRDN 3.5 Develop nutrition education materials that are culturally and age appropriate and
designed for the literacy level of the audience
 This was done at Charter Oak

CRDN 3.6 Use effective education and counseling skills to facilitate behavior change
 Given through communication with clients when asked for advice on best methods for certain dieting p
CRDN 3.7 Develop and deliver products, programs or services that promote consumer health,
wellness and lifestyle management
 Given through communication with client when asked for advice on best methods for certain dieting pa
CRDN 3.8 Deliver respectful, science-based answers to client questions concerning emerging trends.
 Gave science based answers to client questions
 Immediately followed up in more layman’s terms

CRDN 3.10 Develop and evaluate recipes, formulas and menus for acceptability and
affordability that accommodate the cultural diversity and health needs of various populations,
groups and individuals
 Hot dog recipe/food demo at Charter Oak
CRDN 4.4 Apply current nutrition informatics to develop, store, retrieve and disseminate
 information and data
 Done at every site to ensure that I was confident and knowledgeable about the site or what I was
Demoing or presenting

4:

B. Connections to class lecture notes—important to demonstrate the “loop”

At MANNA, we talked about serving sizes. Our quick lesson was very engaging and we
found out that people usually take the larger portion size and tend to overeat. Majority of
the shoppers admitted on having issues with portion size and satiety and perceived
satiety. The handouts and tips that were given to the customer should be of valuable use
for them.
At Charter Oak, the biggest connection of our lecture was the hot dog food demo. Hot
dog is a cheap affordable meat that is easy to cook. The group of society that I presented
to at Charter Oak buy hot dogs regularly because of their price and convenience.
Traditional hot dogs are no the healthiest source of protein but, since people will not stop
buying them I showed the class on how they can make their hotdog meals healthier.

D. Acceptance of your presence

At both locations, Charter Oak and Manna was very accepting of our presence. No one
ignored us and received good discussions and participation from every client.

E. Your perceived value and worth of the activities/lesson

This was a great experience, it gave me practice on engaging with the community and
confidently using my knowledge for people who are seeking an answer about how they
would like to improve their health. I was not sure that I would be able to do it but now I
see that I can and that I also enjoy it. having a topic that your are going to talk about
initially is a good start and then after find out what they are interest are in relation to
 health and nutrition. By using this method the client learn something and I usually learn
something from the clients.

F. Site mentor perceived value and worth of the lesson /share any of their comments
At the end at MANNA the site mentor came to us also wanting to learn about serving size
and had questions of her own she seemed very engaged and thanked us for the
information that we provided her. Charter Oak site mentor thanked us for our
presentation and food demo and said that we did a very good job.
G. Your comfort level at site
My fellow dietitian and I seemed to be very comfortable when talking to people in
general. We were more excited to share our knowledge more than anything.

8. What did you gain from the experience that speaks to your growth and development as a
community nutritionist? In what ways are you feeling increasingly competent?
Although I feel comfortable talking and sharing my knowledge with other what helped me grow
was learning that you should have a topic to talk about as your starting point. I am feeling
increasing competent on knowing how to approach people to deliver nutrition education. I also
feel competent on knowing what most people like as far as indirect nutrition. I learned that one
of the things that people love to receive are recipes.