Table 2.
The components of the ‘Healthy Migrant Families Initiative: Challenges and Choices’
| Session number | Module | Session title | Purpose | Key messages | Activities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Healthy families in a new culture | Living in Australia and how it affects your health | To identify and discuss the differences between living in Australia and living in Africa | • Life in Africa and life in Australia are different in many ways (culture, lifestyle, food, transport, school, support, etc.), which all impact on the health | Group discussion and activities to introduce the parents to each other and some of the basic concepts to be covered during the program: |
| • Introductions/icebreakers | |||||
| • Defining health (ecological definition) | |||||
| • Devising strategies for living a healthy life | |||||
| • The differences between living in Africa and Australia | |||||
| 2 | Healthy families in a new culture | Raising teenagers in a new culture | To encourage positive family relationships and discuss the challenges families may face when moving to Australia and ways in which these challenges can be overcome | • Parenting is challenging for everyone, regardless of where they come from | Group discussion and activities to show parents that they are not alone in the challenges that they face raising their teenagers, and as a way of sharing strategies for overcoming such challenges: |
| • Changes/challenges faced in moving to a new country | |||||
| • Devising strategies for bridging the cultural gap between parents and teenagers to build more positive relationships. | |||||
| • Strategies to assist parents to be positive role models and reduce the cultural gap with their children | |||||
| • Take home activity: discuss and implement the strategies for building positive families with their family they learned during the session, and make a plan to implement some of the strategies at home | |||||
| 3 | Healthy lifestyles in a new culture | Body shape and active living | To promote physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle and devise strategies to encourage regular physical activity | • Cultural differences regarding healthy body shape/size preferences | Group discussion and activities to examine various contributors to body shape and brainstorm strategies for increasing activity levels: |
| • Selecting ‘healthy’ body shapes from the Australian and African perspective using silhouettes of various body shapes | |||||
| • Contributors to various body shapes/sizes | |||||
| • Differences in lifestyle between Africa and Australia | |||||
| • The benefits of physical activity for body weight, health, lifestyle, and families | |||||
| • Types of sedentary activities, and strategies for increasing activity in the family | |||||
| • Take home activity: take note of the amount of electronic media the family uses in their leisure time and compare these to the recommended guidelines; and talk with their family about implementing strategies that will increase the health and activity levels of the family | |||||
| • Physical activity recommended guidelines | |||||
| 4 | Healthy lifestyles in a new culture | Understanding healthy eating | To promote the benefits of healthy eating and introduce the healthy food pyramid | • Basic principles of healthy eating using the ‘healthy food pyramid’ (adapted to include traditional African foods) as a guide, with a focus on individual foods/food groups and how often to consume those foods as part of a healthy and balanced diet | • Group discussion and activities to develop and consolidate understanding of the basic principles of healthy eating: |
| • Discussion of the benefits of healthy eating | |||||
| • Estimating the number of teaspoons of sugar in glasses of common drinks | |||||
| • Sorting picture cards of foods into ‘eat most’, ‘eat moderately’, and ‘eat least’ (in accordance with the healthy food pyramid) | |||||
| • Take home activity: bring a copy of a favourite recipe that they cook frequently for a family meal. Put their (magnetic laminated) copy of the healthy food pyramid on their fridge or wall at home | |||||
| 5 | Healthy families in a new culture | Improving family communication | To equip parents with tools (active listening, assertiveness, and “I” messages) for better communication with their family | • Cultural differences in family communication, and strategies for improving communication within the family | Group discussion and activities about strategies for good communication: |
| • Discussion of challenges in communication with teenagers and brainstorming strategies for resolution of them | |||||
| • Activities to practice using active listening, assertiveness, and “I” messages using example scenarios which might be common African migrant families | |||||
| • Take home activity: practice the active listening and “I” message skills at home with their family | |||||
| 6 | Healthy families in a new culture | Raising a family in Australia: discipline and conflict resolution | To equip parents with strategies to resolve conflict within their family and discuss cultural difference in discipline methods between Africa and Australia | • Different styles of parenting exist | Discussion and activities about resolving conflicts within the family: |
| • Often Australian and African parents resolve family conflict | • Discussion of the similarities and differences in raising a family in Africa and Australia, | ||||
| • and discipline their children in different ways | |||||
| • Brainstorming alternative solutions to discipline than corporal punishment | |||||
| • Australia has different laws compared to most African countries regarding discipline of children | |||||
| • Steps for conflict resolution | |||||
| • Take home activity: practice the conflict resolution steps/alternate discipline strategies at home in family issues that arise | |||||
| • Alternative ways of disciplining children that are also helpful for building positive family relationships | |||||
| 7 | Healthy lifestyles in a new culture | Making healthy choices at home and away from home | To encourage parents to apply the principles of healthy eating principles when cooking meals at home and purchasing food outside of the home | • How to incorporate the principles of healthy eating when preparing meals at home and selecting foods away from home | Discussion and activities to develop skills in making healthier food choices for the family: |
| • Modification of recipes to make them healthier | |||||
| • Sorting laminated A4 picture cards of various meals into ‘most healthy choice’, moderately healthy choice’ and ‘least healthy choice’ | |||||
| • How to prevent food contamination and food poisoning (food safety) | |||||
| • Food safety | |||||
| • Take home activity: test one of the modified recipes at home | |||||
| 8 | Healthy lifestyles in a new culture | Healthy breakfasts, lunches and snacks | To encourage parents to plan meals and inspire appropriate, healthy meals for the whole family | • Small regular meals (e.g. 5–6 small meals per day) are recommended for good health | Discussion and activities to build skills in preparing healthy meals: |
| • Discussion of the importance of breakfast | |||||
| • Brainstorming ideas to encourage breakfast and school lunch consumption | |||||
| • Discussion of ideas for healthy breakfast and lunches | |||||
| • Sorting laminated A4 picture cards of snacks into ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ | |||||
| • Appropriate healthy foods for breakfast, lunches and snacks | |||||
| • Developing a healthy meal plan (whole day) for their teenager using A4 laminated picture cards | |||||
| • Strategies for encouraging teenagers to eat their lunch at school | |||||
| • Take home activity: discuss the session with their family and incorporate lessons learnt. And collect their grocery shopping receipts for 1 week to bring to session 9 | |||||
| 9 | Healthy lifestyles in a new culture | Smart shopping | To apply the principles of healthy to grocery shopping and discuss strategies for ‘smart shopping’ including budgeting, and reading food labels | • How to read food nutrition labels | Discussion and activities to build skills in shopping for healthy foods: |
| • Analyse the healthfulness of their families food consumption using their grocery receipts and a colour code system | |||||
| • Practice reading food labels using A4 laminated picture cards and a laminated wallet-sized shopping tool | |||||
| • Pre-planning can help to make cost-effective and healthy food purchases | |||||
| • Brainstorm ways to save money on food | |||||
| • Take home activity: devise solutions for making healthy changes to their grocery shopping with their family, plan their weekly family meals and prepare a shopping list, and practice reading nutrition labels using the shopping tool | |||||
| • Healthy eating is affordable and most of the time, healthy food is cheaper than unhealthy food | |||||
| • Certificates handed out to participants who complete the program |