Nutrition education research: reaching toward the leading edge.

The work of the past ten years in the field of nutrition education research is reviewed and analyzed. First, definitions of key concepts are provided. Second, the author reviews and assesses the influences from the five nutrition education research conferences held in the past. Presented are results from a survey conducted that asked nutrition educators about the usefulness of the five conferences. Third, results are presented from a review of research articles published since 1980 in JADA, JNE, and HERJ. Implications for designing nutrition education research studies are discussed. Fourth, direction is provided for the future of nutrition education research, with special attention given to the necessary link between researchers and practitioners, so that "right" questions get asked and "correct" answers get used.