Abstract
Health education has a long history in Florida Extension focusing primarily on nutrition and physical activities, and in 2018 a multidisciplinary approach was used to engage in total wellness education which links local foods, agriculture and environment to nutrition, exercise and mindfulness. The objective was to teach participants strategies to blend health and wellbeing domains with food systems resulting in adoption of practices. In practice, growing your own food and preparing it incorporates physical activities and wise spending. Theoretically, educating Floridians about total wellness will lead to a more economically, environmentally, and socially resilient populace. Developing locally relevant total wellness educational programs will benefit county extension agents in connecting wellness domains. Three Central Florida counties delivered Healthy Florida Lifestyles: Locally Grown wellness series to adult and youth audiences between 2019 and 2021. A total of 106 participated in the multi- class wellness series, 53 adults and 53 youth. Post series surveys of all participants (n= 70) indicate 90% (63) increased knowledge about agriculture in Florida, 83% (58) increased knowledge about nutrition, 91% (64) increased knowledge about exercise, and 84% (59) increased knowledge about financial wellness. Nine month follow up surveys (n= 14) indicate that each participant has adopted at least one healthy lifestyle behavior. One respondent reported that the financial wellness strategies helped lead to the purchase of a first home. In conclusion, integrating health and wellbeing domains with local food systems leads to adoption of healthy lifestyle practices.
Presenters
Hannah WootenExtension Agent, IFAS, University of Florida, Florida, United States Tim Momol
Professor and District Director, Extension, University of Florida, Florida, United States Kaydie Mc Cormick
University of Florida Lori Johnson
Family & Consumer Science Agent, Lake County, Florida, UF/IFAS Extension, United States Jana Anderson
Extension Agent, Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, University of Florida IFAS Extension, Florida, United States Virgilia Zabala
Extension Agent II, University of Florida/Insitute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension, Florida, United States Melinda Souers
UF/IFAS Extension 4-H Youth Development Agent, Orange County 4-H Program, University of Florida Extension Orange County, Florida, United States Jenny Aviles-Rodriguez Jenny
Family Consumer Sciences Agent, University of Florida / IFAS Extension, Florida, United States Jamie Daugherty
Residential Horticulture Agent, UF/IFAS Ectention , UF/IFAS Extension, Florida, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
Health Promotion and Education
KEYWORDS
Health, Wellness, Nutrition, Health Education, Food Systems, Horticultural Therapy, Mindfulness
