From SNE

A Focus on Health Disparities

This issue of the Journal has severalarticles related to health disparities.Nutrition educators need to be awareof both traditional and emerginghealth disparities. Traditional healthdisparity research in nutrition educa-tion has focused on the effects of eco-nomic and racial disparities. Fahlmanet al1 found that black middle schoolstudents of low socioeconomic statushad lower self-efficacy about abilityto change dietary habits and hadpoorer diets than white middle schoolstudents of higher socioeconomicstatus. They recommended blackstudents of low socioeconomic statusreceive targeted educational interven-tions to reduce future health dispar-ities. Zoellner et al2 used qualitativemethods among economically disad-vantaged black females to assesscultural perceptions of MyPyramidmessages and identify factors associ-ated with adoption of recommenda-tions. Participants identified health

as a good reason for following mes-sages. Dislike for food items and tradi-tions or customs were cited as barriersto adapting recommendations farmore than cost or availability. The au-thors suggested that nutrition educa-tors focus on individual-level factorsas well as broader health messages. Fi-nally, non-traditional health dispar-ities were addressed by Miller andMiller.3 Attitudes towards exercisewere compared between normal andoverweight adults at health clubs.Their results demonstrated that over-weight and obese individuals also suf-fer from health disparities. Theyfound that the heavier the individ-ual’s weight, the lower their percep-tions were about their health, andthat overweight individuals felt moreembarrassed about exercising aroundfit people than normal weight people.In conclusion, nutrition educatorsneed to be sensitive to both tradi-tional and non-traditional health dis-

parities and to tailor interventions tothe needs of specific populations.

Geoffrey Greene, PhD, RD, LDN2009-2010 SNE President

REFERENCES

1. Fahlman MM, McCaughtry N,Martin J, Shen B. Racial and socioeco-nomic disparities in nutrition behaviors:targeted interventions needed. J NutrEduc Behav. 2010;42:10-16.

2. Zoellner J, Bounds W, Connell C,Yadrick K, Crook L. Meaningful mes-sages: adults in the lower Mississippidelta provide cultural insight into strate-gies for promoting the MyPyramid. JNutr Educ Behav. 2010;42:41-50.

3. Miller WC, Miller TA. Attitudes ofoverweight and normal weight adults re-garding exercise at a health club. J NutrEduc Behav. 2010;42:2-9.

From JNEB

What’s Our Impact?

As educators, researchers, and practi-tioners, we know that measuring im-pact is vital to our programs. Notonly is it a vehicle by which we cancompare our programs with those ofour peers, but it also provides uswith feedback that we can use to im-prove.

I receive many questions about theimpact factor (IF) of JNEB. In the fewyears that we’ve been included inthis rating, JNEB continues to climb.What has been our strategy? One as-pect that contributes to a higher IF isreview articles. Publications that offerall review articles have very high IF.Some journals include 1 or 2 reviewarticles in each issue. With limited pa-ges and many excellent manuscripts,we’ve begun to include 1 invited re-

view article per year.1,2 Hopefully,we’ll be able to increase this number,provided the reviews are excellentand pertinent to our readers.

Secondly, we are moving to e-pubahead of print. This will allow ourmanuscripts to be accessed and citedmuch earlier, contributing to an in-crease in IF. In addition, we’ve madesome layout changes to be able tosqueeze in a few more pages of citablematerial, and have secured a slight in-crease in pages in a few issues.

But truly, the impact that JNEB hasisn’t measured in IF. This is our venuefor educating, learning, and growingas nutrition education and behaviorprofessionals. That impact shows inour work, our students’ work, andthe lives of our clientele.

Karen Chapman-Novakofski,PhD, RD, LDNEditor-in-Chief

REFERENCES

1. Perez-Escamilla R, Hromi-Fiedler A,Vega-Lopez S, Bermudez-Millan A, Se-gura-Perez S. Impact of peer nutritioneducation on dietary behaviors andhealth outcomes among Latinos: a sys-tematic literature review. J Nutr Educ Be-hav. 2008;40:208-225.

2. Cerin E, Barnett A, Baranowski T. Test-ing theories of dietary behavior changein youth using the mediating variablemodel with intervention programs. JNutr Educ Behav. 2009;41:309-318.