Educational Interventions for Promoting Food Literacy and Patient Engagement in Preventing Complications of Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review

Who has a high level of food literacy, and who does not?: a qualitative study of college students in South Korea

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

Unhealthy food choices among young adults are common globally, and the incidence of chronic diseases, such as obesity, is rising. Food literacy (FL) is important for improving and maintaining individual health in a rapidly changing food environment and can form the basis for following a sustainable diet. Therefore, it is essential to improve FL among young adults, particularly college students, who are in the formative years of their lifelong food habits. This study examined the facilitators and barriers of FL and related dietary behavior among college students in South Korea.

SUBJECTS/METHODS

This study recruited 25 college students with different residence types using convenience and snowball sampling. In-person, telephone, and video interviews were conducted from March to November 2021. The interview data were analyzed using framework analysis based on the socio-ecological model.

RESULTS

At the individual level, prior good experiences with food were the most frequently mentioned facilitator. In contrast, the major barriers were a lack of knowledge, financial hardship, irregular schedules, and academic stress. At the interpersonal level, the influences of family and peers, such as early exposure to healthy eating habits and opportunities to have easy accessibility to farms and farming, are major facilitators, but the lack of a sense of community was the major barrier. At the environmental level, the major barriers were unfavorable food environments at home and in neighborhoods, such as the absence of kitchens in housing and large packaging of produce at markets.

CONCLUSIONS

Many factors affected the students' FL and related healthy eating practices. These findings suggest that a campus-based FL program should be developed by reflecting on these facilitators and barriers.

Effectiveness of a nurse-led personalized patient engagement program to promote type 2 diabetes self-management: A randomized controlled trial

PHEinAction® is a theory-based nurse-led patient engagement intervention developed among an Italian older adult population with various chronic diseases to facilitate cognitive, emotional, and behavioral processes in promoting individuals' active roles. This study aims to adapt and evaluate the effectiveness of PHEinAction® on diabetes self-management (DSM) among Turkish type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. First, the generic content of the intervention was customized for diabetes management and adapted for the Turkish population, including back-forward translation and expert panel evaluation; then, a randomized controlled trial was conducted with 51 adult diabetes patients randomly assigned to intervention or the control group receiving the usual care. The intervention consisted of two in-person sessions of 4-week intervals, a telephone consultation, and home-based written exercises, which involved personalized care activities addressing individuals' engagement levels and covering the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects. The scores for treatment adherence, self-efficacy, and patient engagement had significantly improved with a large size effect in the intervention group at the fourth-week follow-up compared with the control group. Findings suggest that the nurse-led personalized patient engagement program could effectively promote DSM.

A scoping review of food and nutrition literacy programs

The impact of food literacy (FL) and nutrition literacy (NL) programs on lifestyles and health is recognized in the literature, yet few studies systematize it. This study aims to deepen the understanding of FL/NL from the characterization of programs in terms of (i) theoretical foundations, conceptualization and measuring instruments; (ii) characterization of the FL/NL programs and results and (iii) limitations and future directions declared. A scoping review of original articles addressing FL/NL programs from the Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed databases published between 2015 and 2023. There was a somewhat restricted view of the construct and the absence of a clear boundary between FL and NL. Half of the studies reported theoretical foundations. The most used model was Social Cognitive Learning Theory. More significant development of programs was observed in Australia, using quasi-experimental designs. Most of the studies informed positive results. Limitations of the studies related to the sampling process, absence of a control group and lack of follow-up. It is suggested that long-term interventions consider economic, social and cultural factors. Despite that theoretical and empirical aspects should be revised, FL/NL programs are a suitable strategy to mitigate the social and health effects of inadequate nutrition.

Personalised Nutritional Recommendations Based on Individual Post-Prandial Glycaemic Responses Improve Glycaemic Metrics and PROMs in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Real-World Assessment

The recommended first-line therapy in type 2 diabetes (T2D) is lifestyle modification. In many patients, such interventions fail, and disease progresses inexorably to medication requirement. A potential reason for the failure of standard nutritional interventions is the use of generic dietary advice, with no personalisation to account for differences in the effect of food on blood glucose between different individuals. Another is the lack of instant feedback on the impact of dietary modification on glycaemic control, which supports sustained behaviour change. The use of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) may help address both these shortcomings. We conducted an observational study to explore how personalised nutritional information impacts glycaemic control and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) of well-being. Free-living people with T2D eating their normal diet were provided with personalised nutritional recommendations by state-registered nutritionists based on the CGM-enabled analysis of individual post-prandial glycaemic responses (PPGRs). Participants demonstrated considerable inter-individual differences in PPGRs, reductions in post-prandial incremental area under the curve (iAUC) and daytime AUC, and improvements in energy levels, ability to concentrate, and other PROMs. These results suggest a role for personalised nutritional recommendations based on individual-level understanding of PPGRs in the non-pharmaceutical management of T2D.

Food Literacy and Its Associated Factors in Non-Dialysis Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease in China: A Cross-Sectional Study

PURPOSE

Nephrology professionals' understanding of food literacy (FL) and influencing factors is significant for nutrition management, which is key to controlling disease progress among non-dialysis patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, few studies have explored FL in CKD patients. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the level of FL of non-dialysis patients with CKD and to analyze influencing factors in China.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A total of 203 CKD patients without dialysis were recruited from August to December 2020 to participate in a cross-sectional study. Food literacy was assessed by a modified short food literacy questionnaire for adults. Related influencing factors were measured by the motivation for dietary self-control scale and the satisfaction with dietary behavior scale. Data were also collected regarding patients' health information-seeking behavior (four items), satisfaction and compliance with dietary advice from healthcare professionals (two items), and demographics and clinical diagnoses.

RESULTS

The mean age of patients was 44.5 years (range 18 to 75), and 42.5% were male. Most (50.2%) were in stages 1-2 of CKD. The mean FL score of these patients was 38.75±0.38. The multivariable linear regression analysis shows that secondary educational level (β=0.221, p=0.004), motivation for controlling diet (β=0.198, p=0.003), satisfaction with dietary behaviors (β=0.319, p<0.001), and health information-seeking behavior (β=0.146, p=0.019) were significant influencing factors.

CONCLUSION

Food literacy of Chinese CKD patients without dialysis should be improved. Patients with higher education levels exhibit more active information-seeking behaviors, have greater satisfaction with dietary behaviors, and their motivation for dietary self-control is more likely to be associated with better FL. Healthcare workers should be aware of factors influencing FL and attempt to integrate assessment of FL into routine food-related education for CKD patients.