Sustainable Practices and Methods Aimed at Preventing Obesity among Young Adults: Piloting a New Curriculum

Authors

Natalia Kaloh Vid
University of Maribor, Faculty of Arts
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2367-7319
Vlasta Kučiš
University of Maribor, Faculty of Arts
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18690/um.ff.6.2026.2

Synopsis

Poor diet and physical inactivity directly affect millions of people. Up to 7% of EU health budgets are spent yearly on diseases linked to obesity with still approximately 2.8 million deaths per year from causes associated with overweight and obesity. Within higher education study programs, students are rarely offered any curricula or didactic materials on problems associated with obesity and overweight. The EDU-FIT: INCLUSIVE SOCIAL EDUCATION FIT FOR HEALTHY LIFE-STYLE - PREVENTING OBESITY IN YOUNG ADULTS project is a collaborative effort involving partners from five countries: Croatia, Slovenia, Portugal, Slovakia, and Norway. EDU-FIT intends to enhance student well-being through accessible and sustainable online resources aimed at raising awareness about the importance of developing healthy lifestyle habits and creating sustainable methods and practices to prevent obesity. The project’s outcome is a curriculum for an elective course which will be offered at the University of Maribor. A part of the didactic material is an interactive multilingual digital handbook which will be used as a guide for developing healthy lifestyle habits and preventing obesity among students. This chapter focuses on the methodology and results of the piloting and implementation of the curriculum on an active lifestyle and overweight prevention while studying. A part of the research refers to a self-reflective journal which students completed during the pilot course, and the importance of appropriate, sensitive communication among young adults in the field of obesity.

Author Biographies

Natalia Kaloh Vid, University of Maribor, Faculty of Arts

Natalia Kaloh Vid, PhD is an Associate Professor at the Department of Translation Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor, Slovenia, where she teaches courses in intercultural communication, professional and literary translation, culture, and translation theory. She holds two Ph.D. degrees—one in English Literature and Translation Studies, focusing on the influence of ideology on literary and translation production, and another in Contemporary Russian Literature. She previously served as Vice-Dean for International Cooperation and Promotion. She is the author of five scientific monographs and more than 100 scholarly articles and book chapters. As a guest lecturer, she has taught at universities across Europe and has participated in several international research projects, including the EU-funded TransLaw project on legal interpreting and transcultural law services. She was leading the EDU-FIT project from 2023-2025.

Maribor, Slovenia. E-mail: natalia.vid@um.si

Vlasta Kučiš, University of Maribor, Faculty of Arts

Vlasta Kučiš, PhD is a Full Professor at the Department of Translation Studies, University of Maribor, Slovenia, holding a Ph.D. in intercultural communication and translation studies. She is the Head and Coordinator of the CEEPUS network TRANS (TRANScultural Communication and TRANSlation) and has extensive experience in intercultural communication and adult foreign language education. She actively participates in international conferences in communication and translation studies and has received several Erasmus and CEEPUS mobility grants. Prof. Kučiš is a member of the European Society for Translation Studies (EST) and the International Federation of Communication Associations (IFCA). Her research focuses on translation and communication studies, intercultural communication, translation theory, and specialized translation. She is a member of the international TransLaw project and EDU-FIT research group and leads a bilateral project on computer-assisted translation in Slovene-Croatian business communication.

Maribor, Slovenia. E-mail: vlasta.kucis@um.si

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Volume

Transcultural Communciation, Health and Sustainability

Pages

35-52

Published

May 19, 2026

Categories

Copyright (c) 2026 University of Maribor, University of Maribor Press

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Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Kaloh Vid, N., & Kučiš, V. (2026). Sustainable Practices and Methods Aimed at Preventing Obesity among Young Adults: Piloting a New Curriculum. In N. Kaloh Vid & V. Kučiš (Eds.), Transcultural Communciation, Health and Sustainability (pp. 35-52). University of Maribor Press. https://doi.org/10.18690/um.ff.6.2026.2