From SNEBJanuary 2013: A Shiny New Year

It's time to reflect on the past andthink about how to make this yearbetter. The year 2012 in the UnitedStates was saturated with politics. Wewere overwhelmed by campaign ads,by half-truths and marketing strate-gies used to make the candidatesappealing. After a while, many of ustuned out the constant din of contra-dictory facts, figures and fictions. Wewere going to do what we wanted toanyway.it was all so confusing.

Reminds me of the world of nutri-tion education. The people whowant and need our expertise are bom-barded with complex informationthat can be difficult to understand. Itchanges constantly as scientific find-ings require us to re-think recommen-dations. Food marketing and labelingcan be misleading and confusing, de-

signed to sell a product and influenceconsumers, often not in their ownbest interest. Our messages can besimplistic, easily misinterpreted, fullof ‘‘don’t do’’ and ‘‘can’t have.’’ Peopleare confused, give in to old habits, andmay resent being told what to eat orhow to feed their children.

The research articles in this issue ofJNEB clearly show that people recog-nize the need for change. But theyneed access to healthy food; to re-sources such as time and money; tofood and nutrition messages that arespecific, fun, and relevant to theirlives whether they are teenagers,busy and tired parents, or recent im-migrants. And they need support sys-tems such as family meals, parentingstyles that develop competent eaters,or school administrators who con-

sider physical activity and healthysnacks a priority.

SNEBmembers can be part of thosesupport systems to influence positivechanges. We have the tools for mean-ingful food and nutrition educationmaterials and programs that posi-tively impact attitudes, knowledge,skills, and behavior. We can be leadersin our communities to promote op-portunities for healthy eating andphysical activity. And we can help de-velop and support policies that willlead to food security, sustainablefood systems, and access to betterfood. So here’s to moving forwardand a great 2013!

Linda T. Drake, MS2012-2013 President, Society forNutrition Education and Behavior

From JNEBInnovative Use of Technology in Nutrition EducationResearch

Understanding the world of today’steen requires a primer in technology.Look around any school campus orshopping mall and you will observeteenswithmobile devices actively text-ing the latest news and coordinatingsocial activities.Communicationusingsocial networking sites like Facebook,Twitter, and Snapchat is instantaneousand occurs 24/7. According to nationaldata, cell phones are owned by 75% of12 to17year olds and1 in3 teens sendsin excess of 100 text messages daily.1

In this issue, Hingle et al2 utilizea youth participatory research ap-proach to examine the preferred con-tent and delivery of health-orientedtext messages to adolescents. Thefindings demonstrated that messagesdelivered via mobile phones reso-nated with adolescents and thatengaging adolescents in the message

design process resulted in better un-derstanding of their lifestyles. Futureresearch is needed to assess the overalleffectiveness of this novel approach inchanging adolescent behavior.

Also in this issue, Lohse3 examinesthe use of Facebook to recruit low-incomewomentoonlinenutritionpro-grams and concludes that Facebook isaneffective research tool.Aswith teens,the number of adult Internet users con-tinues to grow. Social media providesopportunities to explore innovativeapproaches to participant recruitmentand intervention delivery to diverseaudiences. What are the uniquechallenges of integrating social mediainto nutrition education research?Howcan socialnetwork technologyop-timize cost-effectiveness andreach?Wemust ask ourselves these questions andothers as we navigate ahead.

Teri L. Burgess-Champoux, PhD, RD, LDAssociate Editor

REFERENCES

1. Lenhart A, Ling R, Campbell S, PurcellK. Teens and Mobile Phones. Pew Inter-net and American Life Project. http://www.webcitation.org/63u8pRHGW.Published April 20, 2010. AccessedNovember 18, 2012.

2. Hingle M, Nichter M, Medeiros M,Grace S. Texting for health: the use ofparticipatory methods to develophealthy lifestyle messages for teens. JNutr Educ Behav. 2013;45:12-19.

3. Lohse B. Facebook is an effective strat-egy to recruit low-income women toonline nutrition education. J Nutr EducBehav. 2013;45:69-76.