Ms Amanda McCloat:

In the Sligo region we currently offer families short-term interventions. Those projects have focused on working with families from lower socio-economic groups to try to develop their skills. We have taken a bottom-up approach insofar as we work with participants when developing the programme. This involves menu planning, budgeting, shopping for food and helping people to develop skills of discernment. We do all of this in order that they know the best choices to make and to take that into the kitchen and be able to make a healthy, budget-friendly meal with a minimum amount of ingredients.

We envisage that home economists would work with families in the community. A similar model called the extension services exists in the US and Arizona, in particular, has a very strong extension service. In that instance, home economists or family consumer scientists work with families that have been referred to them by public health specialists. When, for example, a mother leaves hospital after having a baby, she is assigned a home economist who works with her and teaches her how to prepare foods for weaning. Such basic skills, even from an encouragement perspective, are extremely beneficial. Home economists can explain to families ways to budget, how to choose the best food when shopping, time management skills, how to plan menus and, in particular, how to provide proper nutrition etc. for their young children.