James Diamond, PhD, Abbie Schlener, Christine Arenson, MD, Michael P. Rosenthal, MD, and Christopher V Chambers, MD. Department of Family Medicine, Jefferson Medical College, 1015 Walnut Street, Suite 401, Philadelphia, PA 19107, (215) 955-8234, james.diamond@jefferson.edu

For several years, researchers have studied the link between health literacy and health status. While health literacy - as distinct from knowledge - has been emphasized, nothing is known about literacy related to nutritional information, or its contribution to the literacy/health status link. Given the prevalence of chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and obesity, understanding their relationship to nutritional literacy is warranted. In this pilot study 100 patients from an urban family medicine practice completed three surveys: (1) an accepted measure of health literacy (short form of the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults), (2) a 15-item survey based on the Health Belief Model and (3) a 22-item measure of nutritional literacy. The primary aim was to study the interrelationships among the three measures and, secondarily, to model nutritional literacy as a function of health literacy, health beliefs, demographics and medical chart data. The participants had a mean age of 60. Eighty-three percent were female and 63% African-American. The nutritional literacy scale was found to be internally-consistent (Cronbach's alpha=0.83) and a function of heath beliefs, ethnicity (African-American versus Other), education (Less than HS, HS and some college, College graduate or beyond) and health literacy (multiple R = 0.79). Compared to patients without these conditions, those with hypertension (n=66) or diabetes (n=25) had lower nutritional literacy and lower health literacy (0.01°Ü p °Ü0.08). This new measure of nutritional literacy shows evidence of reliability and validity, as well as relationships to chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to (
• discuss the concept of nutritional literacy, (
• describe the relation between nutritional literacy and chronic conditions, (
• recognize the contribution of demographics factors to nutritional literacy.

Keywords: Literacy, Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.