Objective:
The goal of my study is to access Low Income Teenagers risks for disease and how Low Income can be related to poor health. And what lifestyle behaviors affect their health and why these choices are being practiced?

Rationale:
Low Income teenagers are a vulnerable group due to their decreased accessibility of life necessities and their developing bodies. Since income is low certain resources can be more difficult to obtain and ignored and can result in poor health or illness. As the future of civilization, teenagers are an important group, because they can shape what the future population will be like, if sick and in bad health, our civilization will decrease. The goal of this study is to see how Low Income effects health/nutritional status in teenagers.

Nutritional assessment measures:

Dietary Assessment: diet record, 24 hour recall and food frequency questionnaires.

Pros: – Observe calorie and nutrient intake of individuals.
– Simple and easy to compare results.
– Cheap and inexpensive to run.

Cons: – Errors of misreporting in food diaries
– Errors in data entry and interpretation of dietary survey information.

Anthropometric Assessment: Measure physical dimensions and gross composition.

Pros: – Simple and easy to use.
– Cheap and inexpensive to run.
– Very easy to process and interpret data.

Cons: – Does not distinguish between fat mass and muscle mass.
– Does not reflect body composition.
– Database limited.

In the studies I found in Ryerson University Library and Archives, the most common methods used to assess this problem where semistructured interviews, surveys, measuring tools, indexes and analyzed published research. The two methods I found to be the most helpful when gathering this kind of information where food frequency questionnaires and anthropometric measurements. 

Description of nutritional assessment methodology: Descriptive Study design

I am using a descriptive study methodology, meaning I will describe the characteristics of the Low income teen population, relating to their health and nutritional status. The nutritional measurements based of the literature reviewed will be interpreted based on its standards, values and results.

Standards,

Reference Values,

Comparable Results,

Food frequency questionnaire valid
Healthy eating index. Compares food habit to canada health.
More country specifi