Orvis School of Nursing students at the University of Nevada, Reno helped educate the international community on nutritional health literacy during the Night of all Nations event on Nov 21.

Nursing students had previously surveyed international populations on campus and discovered that reading American nutrition labels was difficult for many and decided to help.  

The informational session at the Night of All Nations event met an Orvis School of Nursing requirement for students to demonstrate clinical and intervention experiences. Nursing students selected Night of all Nations in order to reach the international population they were seeking.  

"From our previous research we were able to see that there was a lack of knowledge on how to read American nutrition labels especially within the international community," explained Jiani McDonough, a third semester nursing student.  

The students created an informational session and gave basic information on how to read nutrition labels, including how to identify basic information such as serving size and fat and caloric intakes. Students held pre- and post-intervention surveys, known as "lit tests," to gather data and determine if their informational session was successful.  

The lit test was six minutes long and the nursing students asked basic nutritional information that the participants would pick out. Results from the surveys demonstrated that nearly 60 participants showed a significant increase of nutritional knowledge after completing the informational session presented by nursing students.  

"It was very successful; 55 people completed the survey from start to finish and the crowd was very receptive to our information," explained McDonough. "They were very patient and wanted to learn more about nutritional information. We actually saw there was a demand and need for people who wanted to understand nutrition."  

This is not the first time that Orvis nursing students have hosted nutritional informational sessions. Nursing students have worked with the geriatric community and children in order to promote healthy eating.  

"We focus on teaching children about fat and sugar levels," explained Victoria Mischel, also a third semester nursing student. "We bring in visuals such as bags of sugar cubes and a fat belt that allows us to show kids what they're really putting in their bodies and they are very receptive to those visuals."  

"We want the community to know that if there is interest, we as nursing students are happy to provide info to the community and increase awareness," added McDonough.