O-69 Changes in food literacy following an education intervention: findings from the BALANCE study

Methods: Three sites - 2 clinics and 1 community - were purposively sampled based on previous involvement in research. A convenience sample of adults participated in a two-part nutrition education session covering basic knowledge and practical application of the Barbados dietary guidelines, including (1) identifying food groups, (2) nutrition knowledge and beliefs, (3) recognising nutrients and (4) identifying and interpreting food labels. To evaluate the participants’ food literacy scores, a four-part questionnaire adapted from the Food literacy and Newest Vital Signs Surveys was administered pre-, immediately post- and 6 weeks post- the intervention.

Results: Sixty-three participants (24 males, 39 females) completed the intervention and at least one post-education survey. There were approximately a third from each location. The median age range was 55–64 years. The scores for sections 1-3 of the survey, which assessed food literacy via prose (the ability to read and understand continuous text), were all greater than 50% in the pre-intervention period, increasing to >70% post-education. The scores for section 4 which used numeracy (the ability to work with numbers) and document literacy (the ability to read and understand non-continuous text e.g. charts), particularly the questions requiring calculations, all started with an average of <50% and remained below 50% post intervention.

Conclusion: Nutrition education can improve food literacy in a mixed group of participants, however, there is a deficit in numeracy and document literacy compared to prose literacy. This deficit can impact risk assessment, data interpretation and the decision-making process. Future research on food literacy should emphasize health numeracy.