Using dialogue-centered approaches to community-engaged research: an application of dialectical inquiry.

Rural communities across the United States experience increased risk and prevalence of chronic diseases associated with both individual and community-based factors. Thus, there is a need for rural capacity development for chronic disease prevention. Traditional health promotion and intervention approaches often focus on diet-related health disparities from a positivist, evidence-based paradigm.

Teaching Systems-Thinking Concepts with Hypothetical Case Scenarios: An Exploration in Food-Systems Science Education.

Background: The ability to solve complex challenges facing the food system is an increasingly important skill for undergraduate students entering into the global workforce. However, the curriculum tools to enhance systems thinking in the undergraduate agricultural and natural resource classroom are limited, specifically related to food systems education.

Methods: The current study explored the use of hypothetical case scenarios in a teaching curriculum related to the seafood industry, in order to determine the use of these tools as a mechanism for increasing undergraduate students' systems-thinking capacity.

The Influence of Sustainability on Identities and Seafood Consumption: Implications for Food Systems Education for Generation Z.

Seafood is a vital source of nutrition yet many consumers in the United States have been exposed to competing discourse about the industry's environmental impacts, influencing consumption habits. Generation Z, a generational cohort whose members value the sustainability of their purchasing decisions, may have unique opinions regarding sustainable seafood given their sustainability values. This qualitative study explored Generation Z undergraduate students' experiences with seafood and how they perceive the role of seafood in feeding people while sustaining the future natural environment.

A Needs Assessment to Inform Research and Outreach Efforts for Sustainable Agricultural Practices and Food Production in the Western United States.

Increasing the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices can help maintain sufficient food production while reducing its environmental impact. To ensure this adoption, it is important to assess the research and training needs of those helping farmers and producers adopt sustainable agricultural practices. However, there is a gap in the literature related to the training needs of producers in the Western United States for sustainable agriculture.

Qualitative Exploration of Cultural Influence on a Rural Health-Promotion Initiative.

Objective: To develop a conceptualization of cultural influence on perceptions of a rural food and physical activity policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change project to inform public health research and practice.

Design: Basic qualitative research design, semistructured phone interviews with community health coalition members.

Setting: Five rural Southern counties (obesity prevalence > 40%).

Classifying Residents who use Landscape Irrigation: Implications for Encouraging Water Conservation Behavior.

Large amounts of water applied as urban irrigation can often be reduced substantially without compromising esthetics. Thus, encouraging the adoption of water-saving technologies and practices is critical to preserving water resources, yet difficult to achieve. The research problem addressed in this study is the lack of characterization of residents who use urban irrigation, which hinders the design of effective behavior change programs.