Objective(s)
The purpose of this manuscript was to describe: Public Health Nurse (PHN) home‐visited, female client Nutrition Knowledge (K), Behavior (B), and Status (S); the number and types of nutrition interventions PHNs used with these clients; and the types of clients receiving nutrition interventions.
Design and Sample
This descriptive study used PHN‐generated Omaha System, electronic health record data from January 2012 to July 2015. The analytic sample contains 558 women who received home visits in a rural Midwestern U.S. county that employed universal nutrition assessment for clients.
Measurements
Omaha System data included nutrition KBS scores (from 1 = low to 5 = high) and nutrition interventions delivered. Analyses included descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate analyses (means, frequencies, chi‐squares, general linear models).
Results
PHNs assessed nutrition KBS scores for 84.1% of clients; average Nutrition Knowledge was 3.4 (SD = 0.7), Behavior 3.7 (SD = 0.8), and Status 4.3 (SD = 1.0). PHNs provided 0‐36 nutrition interventions per client. Nutrition intervention patterns were detected by the type of visit clients received.
Conclusions
Results suggest home‐visited women have room to improve Nutrition KBS and PHNs utilize myriad nutrition interventions. Results also point to opportunities to improve home‐visited client care by providing more nutrition interventions, especially to those not receiving interventions, and revising standard care plans to reflect important Case Management nutrition interventions.