Nutrition Communication and Education

The module aims to educate the students on the main problems and mistakes in the field of nutritional communication, and to provide strategies to avoid them both at the individual level (transtheoretical model) and at the dissemination level (generalizing the results and extrapolating conclusions). In addition, the course aims to provide theoretical and practical knowledge on the fundamental principles of health education and therapeutic education, with a focus on needs assessment, educational diagnosis, goal setting, and the organization of effective educational interventions. Students will develop skills to design, implement, and evaluate educational programs tailored to different target groups.

At the end of the course, the student will have acquired useful tools for a correct and effective communication in the field of nutrition, both at a personalized level (in the dietician-patient relationship), at a collective level (presentations to groups of people) and at a dissemination level in the absence of an attending audience (dissemination of nutritional information in print, radio and television, and social media). Moreover, students will be able to analyze the educational needs of individuals and groups in the healthcare field; define and structure educational objectives suited to the target audience; design and implement an educational intervention, including an educational contract; monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the educational intervention, adjusting it to the specific needs of the participants.