Shaping Dietary Attitudes to Support Recovery in Serious Mental Illness: A Nutrition Psychoeducation Intervention (current students

Previously, our team collaborated with Genesis Club and Community Healthlink to provide nutrition education to people with SMI. Building off previous programs, which focused on nutrition knowledge and health literacy, we aim to address the current gap in nutrition programming, which is implementation: turning nutrition knowledge into realistic, sustainable habits within their community environment. We propose an innovative community-based habit-building nutrition intervention for individuals with SMI. Our proposed intervention is guided by a Theory of Change Framework, which proposes that meaningful improvements in health behaviors occur when individuals are provided with practical skills, supportive environments, opportunities for repeated practice, and increased confidence in their ability to perform those behaviors. The proposed program emphasizes participants’ real-world context, including the barriers faced by people with SMI, the importance of culturally appropriate nutrition, and the availability of social and community supports.