Publication: Improvement of health literacy and intervention measurements among low socio-economic status women: findings from the MyBFF@home study
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Date
2018
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
BMC
Abstract
Background: Health literacy (HL) consists of different components and associates with several health outcomes,
including obesity. It is linked to an individual’s knowledge, motivation, competencies, behavior, and application to
everyday life. The present study aimed to determine the change of HL scores and to investigate the difference of
intervention outcomes at the weight loss (WL) intervention and WL maintenance phase between the HL groups.
Methods: A total of 322 participants from the MyBFF@home study completed the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) test at
baseline. However, only data from 209 participants who completed the NVS test from baseline to WL intervention
were used to determine the HL groups. Change of the NVS scores from baseline to WL intervention phase was
categorized into two groups: those with HL improvement (increased 0.1 score and above) and those without HL
improvement (no change or decreased 0.1 score and more). Independent variables in this study were change of
energy intake, nutrient intake, physical activity, anthropometry measurements, and body composition
measurements between baseline and WL intervention as well as between WL intervention and WL maintenance.
An Independent sample t-test was used in the statistical analysis.
Results: In general, both intervention and control participants have low HL. The study revealed that the
intervention group increased the NVS mean score from baseline (1.19 scores) to the end of the WL maintenance
phase (1.51 scores) compared to the control group. There was no significant difference in sociodemographic
characteristics between the group with HL improvement and the group without HL improvement at baseline. Most
of the dietary intake measurements at WL intervention were significantly different between the two HL groups
among intervention participants. Physical activity and body composition did not differ significantly between the
two HL groups among both intervention and control groups.
Conclusion: There was an improvement of HL during the WL intervention and WL maintenance phase in
intervention participants compared to control participants. HL shows positive impacts on dietary intake behavior
among intervention participants. New research is suggested to explore the relationship between HL and weight
loss behaviors in future obesity intervention studies.
Description
Keywords
Health literacy, Weight loss behavior, Women’s health, Dietary intake behavior, Body composition