Abstract
This workshop offers experiential learning opportunities for practitioners seeking to incorporate mindfulness practices into community health and education programs. The workshop is informed by outcomes from an 8-hour practitioner-focused pilot training program developed in response to needs for scalable strategies to support improved community nutrition and well-being. The findings inform strategies for training community health and education practitioners to develop, implement, and evaluate mindfulness practices in their communities. Grounded in nutrition education and public health fields, the training utilized community-based participatory action research (Collins 2018) and community-centered engagement strategies (PHDR & CTSI/CEARCH, 2021). Source materials for the practitioner training were collated from community-based, nutrition education and mindfulness programming, including curricula (Iaccopucci et al. 2019; Iaccopucci et al. 2020; Lewis et al. 2025), facilitator field notes, participants’ nutrition and health behavior outcomes (Lewis et al. 2020; Lewis et al., In Review), alongside mindfulness scholarship (Germer & Neff, 2019; Kabat-Zinn, 2003). Matched pre- and post-assessments were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank test, examining practitioners’ participation outcomes for 24 items. Immediate post-training gains were significant (p < 0.05) for 16 items, with the greatest gains in practitioner knowledge, confidence to teach, and teaching practices. Through this workshop, participants will experience two mindfulness practices (mindful eating and mindful movement) included in the practitioner training, explore ways to incorporate mindfulness skill development practices into their community health and education programs, and learn how to evaluate the impact of incorporating these practices for participant and community outcomes.
Presenters
Katherine SouleAcademic Administrator, Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, California, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
Health Promotion and Education
KEYWORDS
Keywords: Mindfulness, Community Health, Nutrition, Well-being
