Progress 09/01/11 to 02/28/14

Outputs
Target Audience: One critical target audience for the project was a cross-section of community residents of four different areas of the Navajo Nation: two of the areas on the eastern side of the Navajo Nation (in northwest New Mexico) and two towards the central portion of the Navajo Nation (in northeastern Arizona). The communities differed in altitude, remoteness, access to water, employment and language use. On the Eastern side of the reservation there are extensive land areas traditionally farmed with some working irrigation systems, while on the more central part there is much smaller areas suitable for that purpose. The project gathered data from 120 Navajo residents altogether, 30 respondents from each of the four communities. During the analysis and dissemination of the target audience consisted of a variety of groups: FALCON participants in research from other tribal colleges and universities, Navajo Nation public health professionals through presentations at annual meetings, and local Navajo tribal college students, staff and faculty as well as community members in the towns around our campuses in New Mexico and Arizona. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Four undergraduate students participated in the project during the summer of 2012. They were provided with three weeks of instruction that earned them 4 credits for PUH 290 Public Health Research Methods. They spent the next 7 weeks enrolled in PUH 297 Public Health Research Methods Practicum ( 3 credits)in which they assisted in modifying the survey, piloting the survey, and then conducting the survey in the four communities with 30 respondents in each community. Two of the students presented project results an national conferences: Deina Barton at the FALCON 2012 Annual Conference in Albuquerque, NM, and Tristin Moone at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association in San Francisco, CA and at the 2013 FALCON Annual Conference held in Washington, D.C. Felix Nez, Diné College's Extension Agent, participated in the project and assisted in the two FALCON meeting presentations, and thus enhanced his experience with research and analysis. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? 1. Navajo Gardening, Nutrition and Community Wellness, Mark C. Bauer, Kevin Lombard, Felix Nez, and William Bighorse. First Americans Land-grant Consortium (FALCON) 2012 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 28, 2012. 2. Navajo Gardening Project: Why Garden?, Deina Michel Barton. First Americans Land-grant Consortium (FALCON) 2012 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 28, 2012. 3. Assessment of Interests, Resources, Barriers and Attitudes Towards Gardening as a Wellness intervention Method in Four Navajo Nation Communities, Tristin Moone, Mark Bauer, and Kevin Lombard. 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, San Francisco, California, Student Poster Session, October 30, 2012. 4. Navajo Gardening Nutrition and Community Wellness, Mark C. Bauer, Kevin Lombard and Felix Nez. Navajo Food Sovereignty Summit, February, 2013, Diné College, Tsaile, AZ. 5. Navajo Nation Human Research Review Board held their fall Navajo Research Conference in Window Rock, Arizona, October 23-24, 2013 where the project results were presented to health and education professionals of the Navajo Nation. 6. Findings and Recommendations from the Navajo Gardening, Nutrition and Community Wellness Survey Project. 2013 FALCON annual Meeting in Washington, DC in November, 2013. At all of these presentations, very enthusiastic audiences of students, faculty and other professionals expressed a great deal of interest in the issue of gardening and how it can be encouraged to support improvements in nutrition. The key finding is that our data show that those who are gardening are consuming two more servings of fruits and vegetables than those who are not gardening. That makes it seem very worthwhile to pursue the other issues of resources and barriers that prevent more gardening. Presentations on the survey results were reported to the Shiprock Chapter, the Tsaile/Wheatfields Chapter and the Hogback Chapter of the Navajo Nation, where community members engaged in spirited discussions of the results and made their own recommendations for what could improve gardening opportunities in their areas in the future. Reporting was also done to the Navajo Nation Human Research Review Board, the IRB of record for all research involving human subjects on the Navajo Nation. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The project conducted a needs assessment of gardening interests, activities, resources, barriers, priorities and associated nutrition and exercise measures conducted in four different Navajo communities, with two of the areas on the eastern side of the Navajo Nation (in northwest New Mexico) and two towards the central portion of the Navajo Nation (in northeastern Arizona). The communities differed in altitude, remoteness, access to water, employment and language use. The sampling procedure stratified by chapter (community) and by type of area within the community (compact housing area, farming area, scattered rural housing area), so that the total sample of 120 included 30 from each chapter and some respondents selected from each of the different types of area within the chapters. Selection of respondents was carried out with the intention of obtaining a sample that was representative of the total population of these chapters in terms of age, gender, employment status, language use (Navajo or English predominantly), and economic status as indicated by use of food assistance programs. This was largely successful, although Navajo speakers were somewhat undersampled, and retirees, students and lower economic levels were somewhat oversampled. Key findings were that among the 31% sampled who had a home garden, fruit and vegetable consumption (measured by twenty-four hour dietary recall) averaged 6 servings per day, compared to less than 4 servings per day among the 63% of the sample who did not garden (P=.003), suggesting that home gardens can make a significant and meaningful difference in this important nutritional measure. While only 31% of the sample were currently gardening, another 50% of the people in the sample had either thought about having a garden, or had actually made plans to have a garden (but did not actually end up gardening). Thus the interest in gardening, the active consideration of gardening as something reasonable to do, is fairly pervasive – only 19% did not consider it or think about it at all. Therefore a gardening intervention, to empower those 50% who were considering or planning gardens to actually succeed with a garden, has a fairly large potential target population. Because our data show a significant difference in fruit and vegetable consumptin attributable to gardens, the potential impact of such an intervention is substantial. An additional variable, type of residential area, was defined and added to most cases to enable comparisons between groups living in established housing areas, those in irrigated farm areas, and other scattered rural housing. This may allow for more meaningful analysis of the specific interests, barriers, and needs of subsets of the population that could lead to more successful interventions. Some of the student researchers from the previous summer were invited to participate in work sessions to generate community reports for dissemination and specific recommendations to provide to the Land Grant Office and the chapter leadership.

Publications

Progress 09/01/13 to 02/28/14

Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for this dissemination year of the project consisted of a variety of groups: FALCON participants in research from other tribal colleges and universities, other public health professionals through presentations at annual meetings, and local Navajo tribal college students, staff and faculty as well as community members in the towns around our campuses in New Mexico and Arizona. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The survey results, with additional analysis, were presented at the FALCON 2013 Annual Conference held in Washington, D.C. in November, 2013. The presentation was made by the PI, accompanied by the College's Extension Agent who worked on the project, and by one of the original students who conducted the research, Tristin Moone, of Columbia University. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The results of the gardening surveys in four Navajo chapters were presented back to those chapters. The Navajo Nation Human Research Review Board held their fall Navajo Research Conference in Window Rock, Arizona, October 23-24, 2013 where the project results were presented to health and education professionals of the Navajo Nation. Finally, the research was presented, along with resulting recommendations, at the FALCON meetings in Washington, DC in November, 2013. Thus the project hascompleted the process of returning results to the local community and to the research community.. Our significant research finding that Navajo community members who report gardening are consuming on average two additional servings of fruits and vegetables than non-gardeners is an important validation of our promotion of gardening, and will assist in future funding of these efforts. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This additional six month no-cost extension period was used for project dissemination to communities. Presentations on the survey results were reported to the Shiprock Chapter, the Tsaile/Wheatfields Chapter and the Hogback Chapter of the Navajo Nation, where community members engaged in spirited discussions of the results and made their own recommendations for what could improve gardening opportunities in their areas in the future. Reporting was also done to the Navajo Nation Human Research Review Board, the IRB of record for all research involving human subjects on the Navajo Nation.

Publications

Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/13

Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for this dissemination year of the project consisted of a variety of groups: FALCON participants in research from other tribal colleges and universities, other public health professionals through presentations at annual meetings, and local Navajo tribal college students, staff and faculty as well as community members in the towns around our campuses in New Mexico and Arizona. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Students were encouraged to develop and present research results based on their activities with the project in the previous funded period. See below for student presentations (2 & 3). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? There have been four presentations. Items 2 and 3 below are student presentations. Navajo Gardening, Nutrition and Community Wellness, Mark C. Bauer, Kevin Lombard, Felix Nez, and William Bighorse. First Americans Land-grant Consortium (FALCON) 2012 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 28, 2012. Navajo Gardening Project: Why Garden?, Deina Michel Barton. First Americans Land-grant Consortium (FALCON) 2012 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 28, 2012. Assessment of Interests, Resources, Barriers and Attitudes Towards Gardening as a Wellness intervention Method in Four Navajo Nation Communities, Tristin Moone, Mark Bauer, and Kevin Lombard. 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, San Francisco, California, Student Poster Session, October 30, 2012. Navajo Gardening Nutrition and Community Wellness, Mark C. Bauer, Kevin Lombard and Felix Nez. Navajo Food Sovereignty Summit, February, 2013, Diné College, Tsaile, AZ. At all of these presentations, very enthusiastic audiences of students, faculty and other professionals expressed a great deal of interest in the issue of gardening and how it can be encouraged to support improvements in nutrition. The key finding is that our data show that those who are gardening are consuming two more servings of fruits and vegetables than those who are not gardening. That makes it seem very worthwhile to pursue the other issues of resources and barriers that prevent more gardening. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Specific Aim 3. To develop recommendations for intervention strategies based on the findings of the needs assessment. The community advisory group will meet regularly (at least monthly) to assist with consideration of the findings and compiling recommendations in terms of interventions, content for further extension education and outreach programming, and further research that could be suggested as a result of the findings. A six-month extension is now requested to use a remaining small amount of funding to present final results at the FALCON meeting in November, 2013 and to finalize and disseminate the results and recommendations to local communities.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Originally a one year grant from USDA, a no cost extension was granted in August 2012 to extend the end date of the project’s funding to August 2013. During the one year extension additional analysis was done. An additional variable, type of residential area, was defined and added to most cases to enable comparisons between groups living in established housing areas, those in irrigated farm areas, and other scattered rural housing. This may allow for more meaningful analysis of the specific interests, barriers, and needs of subsets of the population that could lead to more successful interventions. Some of the student researchers from the previous summer were invited to participate in work sessions to generate community reports for dissemination and specific recommendations to provide to the Land Grant Office and the chapter leadership.

Publications

Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/12

Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for the project this year was a cross-section of community residents of four different areas of the Navajo Nation: two of the areas on the eastern side of the Navajo Nation (in northwest New Mexico) and two towards the central portion of the Navajo Nation (in northeastern Arizona). The communities differed in altitude, remoteness, access to water, employment and language use. We continued until we had 30 respondents from each of the four communities. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Four undergraduate students participated in the project during the summer of 2012. They were provided with three weeks of instruction that earned them 4 credits for PUH 290 Public Health Research Methods. They spent the next 7 weeks enrolled in PUH 297 Public Health Research Methods Practicum ( 3 credits)in which they assisted in modifying the survey, piloting the survey, and then conducting the survey in the four communities with 30 respondents in each community. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The students conducted data analysis activities the final week of the summer, and presented their results to the college community. Other reporting wil be done in year 2. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Further data analysis and preparation of reports, recomendations and other dissemination will take place in a second, extension, period.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The project conducted a needs assessment of gardening interests, activities, resources, barriers, priorities and associated nutrition and exercise measures conducted in four different Navajo communities, with two of the areas on the eastern side of the Navajo Nation (in northwest New Mexico) and two towards the central portion of the Navajo Nation (in northeastern Arizona). The communities differed in altitude, remoteness, access to water, employment and language use. The sampling procedure stratified by chapter (community) and by type of area within the community (compact housing area, farming area, scattered rural housing area), so that the total sample of 120 included 30 from each chapter and some respondents selected from each of the different types of area within the chapters. Selection of respondents was carried out with the intention of obtaining a sample that was representative of the total population of these chapters in terms of age, gender, employment status, language use (Navajo or English predominantly), and economic status as indicated by use of food assistance programs. This was largely successful, although Navajo speakers were somewhat undersampled, and retirees, students and lower economic levels were somewhat oversampled. Key findings were that among the 31% sampled who had a home garden, fruit and vegetable consumption (measured by twenty-four hour dietary recall) averaged 6 servings per day, compared to less than 4 servings per day among the 63% of the sample who did not garden (P=.003), suggesting that home gardens can make a significant and meaningful difference in this important nutritional measure. While only 31% of the sample were currently gardening, another 50% of the people in the sample had either thought about having a garden, or had actually made plans to have a garden (but did not actually end up gardening). Thus the interest in gardening, the active consideration of gardening as something reasonable to do, is fairly pervasive – only 19% did not consider it or think about it at all. Therefore a gardening intervention, to empower those 50% who were considering or planning gardens to actually succeed with a garden, has a fairly large potential target population. Because our data show a significant difference in fruit and vegetable consumption attributable to gardens, the potential impact of such an intervention is substantial.

Publications