Using learner-centered education to improve fruit and vegetable intake in California WIC participants

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of learner-centered education in conveying the message to change participants' fruit and vegetable consumption.

Design: Focus groups were conducted with sites participating in the Finding the Teacher Within (FTW) program and comparison sites 4-6 months after participants attended the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) fruit and vegetable class.

Setting: Six California WIC agencies.

Participants: Sixty predominantly Latina mothers with young children, 30 from 3 participating intervention agencies and 30 from 3 comparison agencies, participated in focus groups. Each agency independently recruited mothers for participation. Apart from selecting only mothers, no other exclusion criteria were applied.

Intervention: An FTW learner-centered fruit and vegetable class.

Analysis: An analytic team independently reviewed transcripts and coded themes. The long-table analytic approach was used to categorize results. Results from intervention and comparison groups were compared and ranked to create a textual summary.

Results: The most significant difference between the intervention and comparison groups' reports was that intervention participants identified more value, importance, and relevance of the fruit and vegetable information and adopting new fruit and vegetable practices after attending the class.

Conclusions and implications: California WIC demonstrated that messages delivered through this process can be retained and integrated into family life practices.