NDSU researchers are in the final stages of receiving a $349,900 grant from the NIFA-USDA Rural Health and Safety program.
Julie Garden-Robinson, professor and NDSU Extension food and nutrition specialist, is the principal investigator and Sherri Nordstrom Stastny, professor of health, nutrition and exercise sciences, is the co-principal investigator for a project called “Nourishing Boomers and Beyond II.”
According to Garden-Robinson, the program, known as NBBII, builds upon previous Extension chronic disease prevention efforts.
“The project aims to identify and package educational tactics for adults age 50 and older in rural North Dakota counties, using an updated distance-delivery Extension programming model (such as Zoom, videos, google classrooms) and traditional face-to-face delivery,” Garden-Robinson said.
Aging and other risk factors, such as family genetics and gender, make it nearly impossible for older adults to avoid chronic disease, and 80% of adults 65 and older have at least one condition, while 68% have two or more. Citizens in rural states such as North Dakota face obstacles, including access to healthy food, physical activity and medical care.
“To combat the increasing prevalence of diabetes and other chronic diseases, identifying the types of lifestyle choices that can decrease risk is needed,” Stastny said. “Sharing this information with the public in a way that engages with audiences and facilitates positive changes is critical.”
The NBBII program will recruit participants from 19 counties in rural North Dakota who are at risk for chronic disease (including pain) related to aging. The project will identify motivations for eating and physical activity behaviors, and customize educational modules, including opioid issues and COVID topics, based on trends identified among the participants. It will deliver distance-education modules for 500 people per year and collect follow-up surveys to assess planned and sustained lifestyle changes.
The program will be sustainable through ongoing partnerships with NDSU Extension stakeholders in North Dakota and updates to the web-based materials, Garden-Robinson said.
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