The purpose of this project was to garner a greater understanding of the form, function, and uses of school as well as community gardens. Worldwide, school and community gardens are used to promote health, nutrition, and some aspects of education. I wished to extend my knowledge of these gardens to greater lengths by building and incorporating a school garden in a community that was underderserving. Along the way I also sought to better my understanding of how to help communities through the knowledge and aid of experts and other community members. By doing this, I would hopefully both improve that community as well as understand the difficulties and problems that stand in the way of greater school garden incorporation.

It is estimated that about one in six children aged 3 to 7 have one or more developmental disabilities (DD) in the United States. These conditions can include ADHD, cerebral palsy, Autism spectrum disorder, vision impairment, hearing loss, learning/intellectual disabilities, and other developmental delays. Many children with developmental disabilities are also at a higher risk of being undernourished or lacking nutrition. Inadequate nutrient intake, feeding problems/disorders, and motor dysfunctions associated with DD are often related to poor nutritional status. However, there are many other social factors, that are often overlooked, which can contribute to the overall poor nutritional status of children with developmental disabilities. This thesis aimed to take a holistic look at the physical, environmental, and social determinants of health that affect the nutritional status and mealtime success of children with developmental disabilities using an intersectional approach. The research also includes a synthesis of interviews collected from parents of children with DD, social workers, occupational therapists, and speech and language therapists in order to survey what challenges children with developmental disabilities face during mealtime, nutritional challenges from parents/professionals, and assessment of nutritional programs available in the community.

Objective: To determine the consumption frequency of foods with added sugar among smoking groups: nonsmokers, cigarette smokers, vapers, and dual users in young adults ages 18-24.

Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted using an online Qualtrics survey that included questions on demographics, smoking habits, and added sugar content and was distributed across multiple platforms for 3 months. There were 47 qualifying participants that completed the survey.

Results: There were not many cigarette user or dual user respondents, so the groups studied were modified to nonsmokers and vapers+dual users (VDU) and nonsmokers vs. nicotine users that consisted of cigarette smokers, e-cigarette users, and dual users. There were 30 (63.8%) nonsmokers, 16 (34.1%) VDU, and 17 or 36.2% of all nicotine users recorded. The added sugar consumption frequency by the three groups was similar with scores of 1.37, 1.50, and 1.54 for nonsmokers, vapers+dual users, and nicotine users, respectively.

Conclusion: There was a high number of reported vapers in this study, and nonsmokers had the lowest added sugar consumption frequency closely followed by the VDU and all nicotine users group. All groups studied had relatively low added sugar scores. More research is needed to successfully compare the added sugar content of the four intended groups.

Policy Implications: Anti-vaping policies should be targeted to this group.