Date: March 13
Time: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. (Central time)
This symposium will feature four training sessions on multiple diversity-related topics including weight inclusive nutrition counseling, inclusive teaching strategies, honoring cultural food practices, culinary medicine training:
Being a Human in the Room: Teaching Compassionate Nutrition Counseling from a Weight Neutral Lens
This session highlights nutrition counseling from a weight neutral/inclusive lens. Reviews course instruction that incorporates intentional student-centered delivery, with student safety in mind. Shares strategies for presenting nutrition counseling topics to be transparent and include discussions of cultural awareness, intersectionality and trauma informed care. Using motivational interviewing and other counseling frameworks to develop a toolbox for supporting behavior change, while encouraging nuanced conversations about weight and healthcare access in a welcoming environment. Will also share how to ensure students have significant learning outcomes and reflect on their own experiences of being a human, that will also one day be a provider.
Sowing Seeds of Change: Utilizing Culinary Medicine to Enhance Cultural Competency Training in Nutrition and Allied Health Programs
Culinary medicine is a novel discipline that combines the science of medicine and nutrition combined with the art of cooking and meal preparation to support positive dietary changes that help prevent and manage chronic disease. Culinary medicine also encompasses all that relates to food intake, including a diversity of cultural, economic, social, agricultural, and health factors that impact holistic health and wellness. As such, culinary medicine principles and interventions lends themselves well as a teaching strategy for cultural competent teaching in the academic and community setting for nutrition and allied health students.
In this session, we will discuss how to use incorporate culinary medicine in nutrition education and training with nutrition and other allied health students also helps foster competent intercultural communication between educators/preceptors and students, clinicians and patients, and facilitators and community members, by celebrating the diversity of nutrients, flavors, and health benefits in the foods we eat as way to promote holistic health. This session will also share how to use culinary medicine as an effective teaching strategy to foster cultural humility and empathy in educators, preceptors, and students as it acknowledges the many factors, historical and contemporary, that affect a person's food choices, nutrition and medical well-being. The session will utilize a case study to describe success with including culinary medicine training in Arizona nutrition and allied health students academic education to facilitate culturally-competent community nutrition and culinary education with local indigenous tribes and promote improved cultural competent care as future healthcare workers.
Culturally Competent Teaching Strategies
This presentation explores the importance of cultural competence in nutrition and dietetics, emphasizing its impact on health behaviors, food choices, dietary practices, and health outcomes. It begins by defining culture and examining how it shapes nutritional habits and patient interactions. The discussion highlights the critical need for cultural competence, particularly in the American context, where diverse populations require tailored, culturally sensitive nutrition care.
Key areas of focus include:
- Understanding cultural competence and its relevance in nutrition care practice.
- Essential knowledge for students to develop cultural awareness, sensitivity, and adaptability.
- Effective teaching strategies to help future nutrition professionals navigate cultural differences in dietary habits, food traditions, and health beliefs.
By integrating evidence-based approaches, educators can equip students with the skills necessary to work with diverse populations, address health disparities, and provide inclusive, patient-centered nutrition care. This presentation offers practical insights to enhance cultural competency in both teaching and professional practice.
Bringing Culturally Appropriate Nutrition Practice into your Classroom
Providing care inclusive of beliefs and values while honoring cultural food preferences can help improve health outcomes. In turn, this can help minimize health disparities as people may be more trusting of providers who look different from them if they honor their culture when providing interventions. Preparing future nutrition and other healthcare professionals to practice culturally appropriate care lays a foundation for closing the gap on health disparities. This presentation provides skill building for educators looking to teach their students to be more respectful in their care, including asking questions in a way that honors cultural food practices. This includes integrating aspects of culturally responsive interviewing, diversifying case studies, assessing cultural humility and clinical reasoning in culturally diverse patient scenarios, and the power of language. Both inclusive and person-first language helps establish rapport and strengthens culturally appropriate care provided by future practitioners. This also demonstrates respect when speaking in the classroom, helping to create a safe space for students. Bringing cultural humility to the forefront of nutrition education for health professions students will help them be better providers, as well as ensure that your classroom offers an inclusive learning experience for everyone.
