Background and Context:
Eat It To Beat It (EI2BI) is Cancer Council NSW (CCNSW) flagship nutrition program that aims to increase fruit and vegetable consumption in families with primary school aged children. Since January 2013, the program has reached 9,103 parents, through the network of CCNSW regional offices including the Greater Western Sydney (GWS) region, a culturally diverse community.
There is strong evidence for the role of fruit and vegetable consumption in preventing a range of cancers as well as cancer mortality. This is particularly relevant to CALD communities who experience significant health disparities, including increased risk of non-communicable chronic disease. CALD communities are also more likely to consume an inadequate amount of fruit and vegetables.
Aim:
Determine the relevance and acceptability of the existing Healthy Lunch Box session and resources, a key strategy of EI2BI, for Arabic and Mandarin speaking communities living in GWS.
Strategy/Tactics:
CCNSW sought consultation with key stakeholders and organisations from these community groups as an effective method to provide insight into the needs of Mandarin and Arabic speaking communities accessing information on healthy lunch boxes. A modified session was piloted with the Arabic community.
Programme/Policy Process:
Stakeholders were asked 14 semi-structured questions examining the acceptability and relevance of the existing Healthy Lunch Box resources, peer-facilitated delivery method, dissemination strategy and evaluation method.
Outcomes/What was learned:
To successfully reach CALD communities it is essential to consider culture, language and literacy. These factors significantly impact on the relevance and suitability of existing resources and hence appropriate modifications, such as greater use of visuals and props, translation of some complex word based handouts and a more interactive delivery.