University of Alabama at Birmingham

Problem:

The knowledge and skills in the area of pediatric nutrition are changing rapidly. Through training, this project provdes the current workforce with the leaderhip skills and knowledge to work with infants, children and adolescents both in the community and clinical settings.

Goals and Objectives:

Goal 1: To provide long-term and short-term leadership training in the area of pediatric/adolescent nutrition Objective 1: To provide a didactic and experiential curriculum for each student to include clinical, public health and research Objective 2: To provide for clinical experiences in primary care and specialty care in pediatric nutrition Goal 2: To provide intensive training in pediatric nutrition and relevant MCH/Title V programs to health care providers. Objective 1: To provide a week-long intensive course in pediatric nutrition which includes emerging issues, new knowledge and research in the field. Objective 2: To evaluate knowledge and skills of workshop trainees through pre-, post- and 3-month to ensure course is improving the knowledge and skills of attendees. Goal 3: To disseminate information on emerging topics in pediatric nutrition to a national audience through distance education. Objective 1: To develop and provide a nationwide four-hour satellite teleconference that provides new knowledge and/or new or improved way of delivering care to the pediatric population. Objective 2: To recruit a national and culturally diverse audience Goal 4: To develop and implement a program that provides trainees with skill development/training including clinical and counseling skills as well as leadership development related to pediatric nutrition Objective 1: To provide a variety of simulated and real situational learning opportunities of new ways of delivering care to the pediatric populaltion Objective 2: To implement a training component on counseling for behavioral change for long-term as well as short-term trainees Goal 5: To provide technical assistance/consultation and collaboration to child health agencies and MCH health and related care professionals at the national, state, region and local levels. Objective 1: To provide > 10 activites each year for technical assistance/consultation and collaboration to Title V and MCH agencies at the national, state and regional level. Objective 2: To provide > 2 activites each year for technical assistance/consultation and collaboration to UAB-based MCHB funding training and other SPRANS projects.

Methodology:

The program methodology consists of four components. All components are planned, implemented, evaluated and revised with input from National and Regional Advisory Committees. Recruitment efforts for all components focus on minority trainees and trainees from geographically diverse areas. 1) Long-term training- greater than 300 hours in training including: didactic, clinical, public health and research. Training plan follows the guidelines developed by MCHB published in Guidelines for the Development of Residency Programs in Pediatric Nutrition. Students will have access to all didactic course and clinical venues offered by the 4 interdisciplinary training programs at UAB: PPC, LEAH, LEND and MCH-Public Health. 2) Intensive Course in Nutrition of Infants, Children and Adolescents, is held annually the last week in February. The course focuses on all aspects of pediatric nutrition. Special emphasis is placed on special needs populations, health promotion and disease prevention, systems of nutritional care, cultural diversity and community-based programs. 3) Pediatric Update- is designed to provide in-depth information on new or emerging issues in pediatric nutrition via a satellite teleconference in early June. 4) Skills development- is designed to enhance clinical counseling skills and develop leadership skills. A training program for nutrition counseling is being developed, implemented and evaluated which includes lectures, role playing and simulated patient interviews.

Coordination:

This training project is coordinated with MCHB training projects housed at UAB: PPC, MCH, School of Public Health; LEAH and the LEND as well as with other Title V programs in the southeastern region. Professionals from a variety of local, state, regional and national health agencies, including Title V agencies, are involved in the project by serving on the National Advisory and/or Regional Advisory Committees or by participating in networking meeting/collaboration.

Evaluation:

The evaluation for this project is multi-faceted. Long-term trainees are evaluated, according to their Individualized Training Plan, checklists, pre and post clinical evaluation and presentations/discussions. Participants at both the Intensive Course and the Pediatric Update complete an evaluation of program as well as their skills after the course and 3-6 mos follow-up. The skill development component allows evaluation and feedback to participants during the training and at 3 mos follow-up.

Experience to Date:

During the first three years of funding, 7 long-term trainees completed training. Training included clinical, didactic, research and leadership activities. Fellows have presented at local, state and national conferences and have submitted 2 articles, 2 grants and have presented 4 research abstracts at professional meetings. Leadership activities include being involved the Alabama Obesity Task Force, UAB MCH Collaborative Network seminars with all MCHB trainees at UAB, Alabama Title V Network meetings, & Alabama Dietetic Association Board meetings. The Intensive Course in Nutrition for Infants, Children and Adolescents was held on Feb. 26- Marc 1, 2006. There were 128 participants represented 21 states. 47% were from publish health, 49% from clinical and 4% were from other backgrounds. The Pediatric Update, Nationwide Satellite Teleconference entitled “Nutritional Management for Common Pediatric Nutrition Problems” was broadcast on June 8, 2005. Approximately 5000 participants viewed the program in 262 sites in 32 states. An emphasis area is in training practitioners to provide counseling in childhood obesity with information and skills development in behavioral counseling. A meeting held on Feb 6, 2005 with multidisciplinary experts in the field to identify training needs and methods. The advice from this group will guide the development of training materials. We plan to offer on-line presentations from the 2007 Intensive Course.