Development of an Assessment Tool to Measure Healthy Eating in Navajo Children and Their Families.

Background: To estimate the efficacy of interventions to improve healthy eating, valid measures are essential. Although simple dietary intake tools have been developed with other populations, few have been culturally tailored and assessed for validity and reliability among Navajo. Objectives: This study aimed to develop a simple dietary intake tool tailored to Navajo culture, derive healthy eating indices, and assess their validity and reliability in Navajo children and adults and to describe the process used to develop this tool. Methods: A picture-sort tool using typically consumed foods was developed. Elementary school children and family members provided qualitative feedback in focus groups, used to refine the tool. Next, school-aged children and adults completed assessments at baseline and follow-up. Baseline behavior measures including child self-efficacy for fruits and vegetables (F&V) were examined for internal consistency. Healthy eating indices were derived from intake frequencies from picture sorting. The convergent validity of the indices and behavior measures for children and adults were examined. The reliability of the indices at the 2 time points was derived using Bland-Altman plots. Results: The picture-sort was refined from feedback provided by the focus groups. Baseline measures from 25 children and 18 adults were obtained. In children, a modified Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) and 2 other indices from the picture-sort were correlated with self-efficacy for eating F&V and had good reliability. In adults, the modified AHEI and 3 other indices from the picture-sort had significant correlations with adult abbreviated food frequency of F&V or obesogenic dietary index and had good reliability. Conclusions: The Navajo foods picture-sort tool developed for Navajo children and adults is proven to be acceptable and feasible to implement. Indices derived from the tool has good convergent validity and repeatability, supporting use in evaluating dietary change interventions in Navajo, with the potential for broader use of the approach in other underserved populations.

Group Randomized Trial of Healthy Eating and Gardening Intervention in Navajo Elementary Schools (Yéego!).

Introduction: Few healthy eating, school-based interventions have been rigorously evaluated in American Indian communities. Gardening and healthy eating are priorities in the Navajo Nation. Collaborations between researchers and local partners supported the design and implementation of this project. Design: The Yéego! Healthy Eating and Gardening Study was a group-randomized controlled trial to evaluate a school-based healthy eating and gardening intervention in 6 schools in the Navajo Nation. Schools were randomized 1:2 to intervention or comparison. Setting/participants: The Shiprock and Tsaile/Chinle areas in the Navajo Nation were selected. Elementary schools were screened for eligibility. All students in third and fourth grades were invited to participate in the assessments. Intervention: Delivered during 1 school year in the intervention schools, the intervention included a culturally relevant nutrition and gardening curriculum and a school garden. Main outcome measures: Student self-efficacy for eating fruits and vegetables, student self-efficacy for gardening, and student healthy foods score from a modified Alternative Healthy Eating Index were assessed in third and fourth graders at the beginning and end of a school year affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Primary analyses used repeated measures linear mixed models accounting for students nested within schools to estimate the intervention effect and 95% CIs. Results: Students in the intervention schools had self-efficacy scores for eating fruits and vegetables that were 0.22 points greater (95% CI=0.04, 0.41) than those in the comparison schools, although the student healthy foods score increased in the intervention schools by 2.0 (95% CI=0.4, 3.6); the differential change was modest at 1.7 (95% CI=-0.3, 3.7). The self-efficacy to grow fruits and vegetables in the school garden increased among those in the intervention schools (OR=1.92; 95% CI=1.02, 3.63) but not significantly more than it increased in the comparison schools (OR=1.29; 95% CI=0.60, 2.81). Conclusions: The intervention was efficacious in improving self-efficacy for eating fruits and vegetables among third- and fourth-grade students over a school year. The findings warrant further evaluation of the intervention in larger-group randomized trials with schools in Navajo communities. Trial registration: This study is registered at clinicaltrials.gov NCT03778021.

Healthy gardens/healthy lives: Navajo perceptions of growing food locally to prevent diabetes and cancer.

Poor access to nutritious foods, departure from traditional diets, and reduced physical activity are associated with a rise in type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancers among the Navajo. Diabetes in particular is of concern because of its increased prevalence among Navajo youth. Gardening can successfully address issues of poor availability of fruits and vegetables and offer many other social and health benefits. Our assessment aimed to determine Navajo attitudes about gardening and health in San Juan County, New Mexico. We conducted seven focus groups (including 31 people) to assess knowledge and attitudes related to gardening and uncover barriers and facilitators to participation in a garden project. Each group session was moderated by two Navajo students. Transcripts revealed that many Navajo are aware of adverse health issues that occur on the reservation, predominantly obesity and diabetes. Participants expressed a preference for educational approaches that incorporated cultural traditions, respect for elders, use of visual aids, and experiential learning. Several social and agronomic barriers to gardening were also mentioned. Results suggested a broad interest in promoting gardening especially to reduce the risk of diabetes with the added value of enhancing social capital in Navajo communities.

Diabetes on the Navajo nation: what role can gardening and agriculture extension play to reduce it?

Diabetes has emerged as a serious health problem in the Navajo nation, the largest Indigenous tribe in the US. Persons with diabetes are at greater risk for developing other diseases such as cardiovascular disease. Navajos with diabetes almost certainly face a diminished quality of life if their diabetes is not managed properly. Aside from genetics, the incidence of diabetes is highly correlated with income, poor diet, and limited physical exercise. A review of the literature also implicates dietary shifts initiated by historical events and contemporary trends. Numerous studies have shown that moderate consumption of fruits and vegetables, combined with exercise, reduces the risk of or delays the onset of many diseases including diabetes. As part of a larger holistic approach, home and community garden projects have successfully addressed nutrition and food security issues on a grassroots scale. The Navajos have a tradition of farming and therefore expanding Navajo diabetes interventions to include the promotion of community and home gardens provides multiple opportunities. The benefits of these actions include: (i) a variety of nutritious food grown locally; (ii) physical activity attained through the act of daily gardening tasks; (iii) positive income garnered in terms of savings in food otherwise purchased at stores and excess produce canned, or if desired, sold at a farmer's market or trading post; and (iv) positive mental outlook through a combined sense of accomplishment at harvest time, bonding with the earth, and spiritual growth. The objectives of this article were to review the development of diabetes on the Navajo nation though historical and contemporary literature, to provide insight into the role of diet and exercise in the progression of the disease, and to offer cases and suggestions in the role that home and community gardening can play in diabetes reduction. A concluding discussion proposes a multidisciplinary approach to tackling diabetes on the Navajo nation involving public health officials, nutritionists, and horticultural extension agents that could also be applied internationally in similar multicultural, semi-arid climates.