Logo image
Back
Use of nutrition literacy scale in elderly minority population
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Use of nutrition literacy scale in elderly minority population

Pragnesh Patel, S Panaich, J Steinberg, S Zalawadiya, A Kumar, A Aranha and L Cardozo
The Journal of nutrition, health & aging, Vol.17(10), pp.894-897
12/2013
DOI: 10.1007/s12603-013-0355-6
PMID: 24257573
url
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/12879761View
Open Access

Abstract

Objectives: The major objective of our paper was to test and validate the nutritional literacy scale (NLS) in a pre-dominantly African-American geriatric population. Design: Completion of the 2 literacy scales Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (STOHFLA) and nutritional literacy scale (NLS) during a 5-month period from September 2008 to January 2009. Setting: The Rosa Parks Geriatric Center at Detroit Medical Center/Wayne State University. Participants: The study cohort consisted of elderly (>65 years old) 150 patients that had presented to the geriatric clinic. Measurements: NLS and STOHFLA were simultaneously given to the patients. The NLS consists of 28 questions regarding organic foods; calorie intake etc. and questions in each section were arranged from easier to more difficult ones. The baseline characteristics were stratified according to the NLS (< 25 and ≥ 25) and STOHFLA (< 35 and ≥ 35) scores. Additionally we also collected data on demographic information, educational experience, blood pressure recordings from 3 consecutive clinic visits. Results: The patients with a higher NLS score were younger (72 ± 9) as compared to those with lower NLS score (76 ± 9) (p = 0.005), and also had more years of education (16 ± 3 years v/s 13 ± 3 years; p <0.001). A higher proportion of patients with lower score on NLS had hypertension (95.10 % for NLS < 25 v/s 77.08 % for NLS > 25; p =0.001). Conclusion: We validated a potentially useful nutritional literacy tool that might prove to be useful intervention aimed at identifying individuals with lower levels of education and insight regarding their nutritional behaviors.

Details

Metrics

31 Record Views
25 Times Cited - Web of Science
Logo image