| The number of families in the United States that lived in poverty increased from 6.8 million in 2001 to 7.2 million in 2002. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the 2004 poverty guidelines for a family of four was an annual gross income of {dollar}18,850 or gross monthly income of {dollar}1,571. Lower income households spend higher percentage of their income on food than do higher income households and rely on money-saving techniques or food preparation strategies to help manage their food supply. Limited financial resources may have an effect on food choices and/or diet, thus impacting overall health status.; There are federal programs to assist families who may be in need financially, and military soldiers are not exempt from participating in these programs. Pay grade, length of time in the military, and number of members in a soldier's family would affect whether the soldier would be living above or below poverty level.; Four 90-minute focus groups were conducted over a 2-day period, with pre-recruited family members of junior enlisted Army soldiers (n = 18). All focus groups were audio taped and the tapes were transcribed verbatim. The transcriptions were coded manually by assigning a label in the margins of the transcripts for each nutrition issue that appeared. Coding allowed the data to be assembled into categories that were used to develop a nutrition education needs survey.; A survey instrument was developed to capture and quantify the nutrition education needs of a larger segment of the population. Menu planning, shopping on a budget, extending staple items, cooking methods, quick and easy recipes, portion and serving sizes, and food safety were factors that emerged from the focus groups as having an impact on the dietary intake of junior enlisted Army family members.; Three dietitians reviewed the instrument for content validity. Twelve individuals pilot tested the survey instrument for readability and validity. This study produced a 36-item nutrition education needs survey that is ready for field-testing on junior enlisted military family members. |
