Staff Education: Nutrition Education in the Intellectually /Developmentally Disabled Community

The objective of my project is to develop staff education regarding a nutrition initiative developed to address the 44% obesity rate among clients in our care. My target population is direct care staff working in the Intellectually/Developmentally Disabled (IDD) community, and high functioning clients who live independently in the community. The staff knowledge was tested pre- and post-education to demonstrate knowledge retained. Staff are required to get a score of 80 or better to pass. Test results are interpreted to see which content areas need further teaching or clarification. Initial results indicate that four areas of education need to be reviewed and changes made to the content. The project is sustainable; it is now policy. Staff education cannot be allowed to stagnate, there needs to be continuous reexamination of material and data received through testing.The objective of my project is to develop staff education regarding a nutrition initiative developed to address the 44% obesity rate among clients in our care. My target population is direct care staff working in the Intellectually/Developmentally Disabled (IDD) community, and high functioning clients who live independently in the community. The staff knowledge was tested pre- and post-education to demonstrate knowledge retained. Staff are required to get a score of 80 or better to pass. Test results are interpreted to see which content areas need further teaching or clarification. Initial results indicate that four areas of education need to be reviewed and changes made to the content. The project is sustainable; it is now policy. Staff education cannot be allowed to stagnate, there needs to be continuous reexamination of material and data received through testing