Nutrition literacy: foundations and development of an instrument for assessment
type: CreativeWork
description: Health literacy has emerged as an area of increasing research focus in the medical literature, yet it has received little attention in the nutrition literature. Registered dietitians (RDs) should be concerned about low health literacy considering its associations with decreased knowledge of disease and management, increased hospitalizations, decreased use of preventive care services, and increased cost of health care. Thus, this research attempts to apply the concept of health literacy into the context of nutrition. Investigation into whether RDs screen for health literacy and/or adjust teaching methods for different level learners revealed that 79.2% (n=99) of RDs surveyed (n=125) did not use a health literacy assessment instrument. This lack of instrument use may be explained by the lack of health literacy instruments for use in nutrition education settings. Identification instruments, such as the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM), the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA), and the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) can provide the RD with an understanding of an individual’s print literacy and/or numeracy, but do not provide an understanding of additional knowledge or skills specific to nutrition. We sought the help of RDs to determine what skills and/or knowledge are necessary for effective nutrition education in order to incorporate these ideas into an instrument specific to nutrition. Our study involved targeted interviews (n=8) that indicated that the skills required for nutrition education are dependent upon the type of diet instruction. Conceptual skills for macronutrients were important for diabetes (n=5), as well as basic math (n=4 yes; 2=depends) and portion sizes (n=4 yes; 2=depends). Knowledge of MyPyramid/food groups yielded mixed results (n=3 yes; 2=depends, 2=no; 1=no response). In addition, four indicated that all prompted components (macronutrient knowledge, food group knowledge, basic math skills, and competency with househ…
abstract: Health literacy has emerged as an area of increasing research focus in the medical literature, yet it has received little attention in the nutrition literature. Registered dietitians (RDs) should be concerned about low health literacy considering its associations with decreased knowledge of disease and management, increased hospitalizations, decreased use of preventive care services, and increased cost of health care. Thus, this research attempts to apply the concept of health literacy into the context of nutrition. Investigation into whether RDs screen for health literacy and/or adjust teaching methods for different level learners revealed that 79.2% (n=99) of RDs surveyed (n=125) did not use a health literacy assessment instrument. This lack of instrument use may be explained by the lack of health literacy instruments for use in nutrition education settings. Identification instruments, such as the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM), the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA), and the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) can provide the RD with an understanding of an individual’s print literacy and/or numeracy, but do not provide an understanding of additional knowledge or skills specific to nutrition. We sought the help of RDs to determine what skills and/or knowledge are necessary for effective nutrition education in order to incorporate these ideas into an instrument specific to nutrition. Our study involved targeted interviews (n=8) that indicated that the skills required for nutrition education are dependent upon the type of diet instruction. Conceptual skills for macronutrients were important for diabetes (n=5), as well as basic math (n=4 yes; 2=depends) and portion sizes (n=4 yes; 2=depends). Knowledge of MyPyramid/food groups yielded mixed results (n=3 yes; 2=depends, 2=no; 1=no response). In addition, four indicated that all prompted components (macronutrient knowledge, food group knowledge, basic math skills, and competency with househ…
author: Gibbs, Heather D.
language: en
keywords: Health literacy, Health education, Public health nutrition, Clinical nutrition, Nutrition literacy, Nutrition assessment, Nutrition education
date published: 2012-05-22T00:35:21Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:25:30Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/31202