Sure Start Children's Centers: A Qualitative Analysis

The study is about a mixed-methods approach to maximize the efforts of health care practitioners and their time educating disadvantaged women at the Sure Start Children’s Centers. The reason for the study was that upon observation the educators were missing opportunities to engage with the female participants, thus gaining their trust, which would lead to them being more open to the health education to improve their diets. Just as important as the health education program and who conducts the education sessions, is how the education is delivered. This study offers techniques on education delivery to optimize the education and the opportunity for women to learn (Lawrence et al., 2012). The research question is, what are the issues in the manner of how health education is delivered? Part I of the study was an analysis surrounding the discussion of an expert panel who explored what issues there might be when delivering nutrition education to disadvantaged women. Part II of the study was a direct observation when health care staff engaging the female participants. …show more content…
Then the health care practitioners were invited back to discuss their experience in the session. Their interview was recorded and facilitated by a moderator. The topics covered in the interview, that relate to women’s diet, were: how to engage families, the delivery of the service, evaluating the efficacy of program activities, the barriers to eating healthy, and how to implement research findings into a workable prevention program. The audio was interpreted and coded by themes, from which a model was developed and presented to the staff. The themes included: gaining the woman’s trust, strategies to meet the client, service and staff needs, and bringing about