O-37 Socio-demographic and Dietary Influences of Eating Habit Perception in Jamaica

Methods: This cross-sectional analysis is based on a nonprobability sample of 374 participants in Jamaica, age 18 years and above. The three-stage process used a simple random sample to select three parishes. The main commercial areas of each Parish were thereafter chosen. The sample included retail, hospitality and tourism, public sector, NGOs and other private sector establishments to ensure the inclusion of a representative as possible cross-section of participants. Employees and patrons completed a questionnaire regarding their food consumption and diet quality selfperception. Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) was used to evaluate the non-linear relationships among the variables. The MCA results guided the specification of a multivariate logistic regression used to estimate the relationship between the socio-demographic factors, food intake and perceived eating patterns.

Results: The average predicted probability of a perceived unhealthy diet is reduced when the respondent is either a male, economically active, in good health, is married or in a common-law relationship. The probability is increased for respondents with a college degree and those living in a male, single-headed household. Consuming healthful items reduces the poor diet perception and vice versa, indicating possible connections between food intake, diet quality perception and actual diet quality.

Conclusion: This exploratory analysis established a link between perceived diet quality, eating habits and sociodemographic factors. The impact can be negative or positive depending on the variable under consideration.