Date of Award:

12-2023

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences

Committee Chair(s)

Heidi Wengreen

Committee

Heidi Wengreen

Committee

Martha Archuleta

Committee

Mateja Savoie Roskos

Committee

Gary Straquadine

Committee

Ron Munger

Abstract

Refugees face many challenges related to obtaining and preparing adequate and culturally acceptable and desirable foods in their resettlement communities. These challenges often lead to risk of food insecurity and chronic diseases. A review of literature identified the existing delivery strategies and highlighted the need for nutrition education tailored to the refugees’ conditions. This study identified some of the barriers that refugees face, including the English language, transportation, finding items in grocery stores, availability of ingredients and equipment needed for cooking, affordability of food and budgeting. It also highlighted participants’ preference for having nutrition education.

To overcome these challenges, the Create Better Health (CBH) curriculum was adapted to be culturally relevant for Somali refugees in Utah. The adapted curriculum was used to teach Somali refugees in Utah about nutrition. This nutrition education was delivered online during a 2-hour session once per week for 12 weeks by a Somali professional. Pre- and post-intervention survey data demonstrated that several nutrition-related behaviors improved among the participants after receiving the intervention. Although many nutrition-related behaviors improved, most of the participants still were not meeting recommended levels of fruits and vegetables and most of the other indicators of the five domains.

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