Web-based Nutrition Education in Georgia Senior Centers: Pilot Test of a Dietary Approaches to Stopping Hypertension (DASH) Diet Website Prototype

• Main Author: Harrison, Ashley
• Format: Others
• Published: ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University 2014
• Subjects: DASH diet; web-based nutrition education; Georgia senior centers; hypertension
• Online Access: http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/nutrition_theses/54; http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1054&context=nutrition_theses

As increasing numbers of baby boomers enter retirement age, Georgia senior centers will be inundated with more computer-savvy seniors than ever before. Web-based nutrition education is a pragmatic option to complement the traditional classroom nutrition education sometimes hindered by the centers’ limited monetary and personnel resources. This exploratory observational study sought to pilot test a companion to classroom nutrition education, a prototype Dietary Approaches to Stopping Hypertension (DASH) diet website, for future implementation in Georgia senior centers. Classroom DASH diet lessons were designed and pilot tested on a convenience sample of community dwelling older adults in 6 metropolitan area centers (n=109). Next, the same lessons were incorporated into a senior-friendly DASH diet website specially designed to meet the needs of older adults and pilot tested on a second convenience sample in one center (n=5). Descriptive and analytical statistics were used to compare baseline and post-website blood pressures, body weights, and DASH-related nutrition knowledge. There was a significant difference in the scores for systolic blood pressure at baseline (M=145.60, SD=8.385) and post-website (M=136.40, SD=9.607) conditions; t(4)=3.74, p =.020. Diastolic blood pressure and weight showed no significant change. A survey of DASH-related knowledge, behaviors, and beliefs showed movement towards desired responses on 44% of survey questions after the intervention. An opinion survey collected seniors’ perspectives on their website experience. 100% of participants reported satisfaction with the website and willingness to continue using it. Refinements to the alpha-prototype website are recommended before further testing with a larger pilot study group. Although expanded research is necessary, results from this limited pilot test suggest that web-based nutrition education is a promising method to reinforce classroom lessons teaching dietary and lifestyle management of hypertension in Georgia senior centers. Multi-component nutrition education holds potential to address diversity in cultures, learning preferences, and functional limitations of Georgia seniors.