FOODLIT-PRO - Food Literacy Project: Development of Concept, Measure, and Intervention

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Organizational Unit

Publications

Foodlit-pro: Food literacy project food literacy conceptualisation, assessment, and intervention with portuguese adults

Publication . Rosas, Raquel Alexandra Ferreira; Leal, Isabel Pereira; Pimenta, Filipa; Schwarzer, Ralf

Individuals’ food-related education and empowerment is crucial not only to transform knowledge, competencies, and behaviours towards healthier and more sustainable food choices, but also to provide for skills that allow consumers to successfully navigate within food systems. The central aim of this dissertation was to contribute to further advancements in the field of food literacy by exploring its conceptual understanding, facilitate its assessment, and developing a theory-supported intervention. To this end, we developed a mixed-methods and sequentially designed project entitled ‘FOODLIT-PRO: Food Literacy Project’ that comprises three stages described in five chapters. Presented in chapters 2 and 3, Stage 1 demonstrated a wider outlook on the comprehension of food literacy, providing for a conceptual and empirical framework with a multidimensional definition of the construct, a characterisation of its determinants, and the identification of inter-sectorial fields of action. Described in chapter 4, Stage 2 allowed to translate the multifaceted conceptualisation of food literacy into a quantitative assessment tool, providing for an adaptable and validated measure to assess food literacy, its determinants, and influential factors in Portuguese adult samples. Presented in chapter 5 and 6, Stage 3 enabled the first known mapping of food literacy content into digitally delivered behaviour change techniques and allowed to verify the theoretical suitability of the Health Action Process Approach in predicting food literacy outcomes. These findings suggest that a broader approached should be taken when striving to promote food literacy, acknowledging the impact of surrounding areas and identified determinants. Emphasising the synergy between consumers’ food literacy and wider fields of action, the FOODLIT-PRO underlines the need to consider multidisciplinary approaches towards global food-related sustainability.

2022-12-14Doctoral thesis

Open access

FOODLIT-trial: protocol of a randomised controlled digital intervention to promote food literacy and sustainability Behaviours in Adults Using the Health Action Process Approach and the behaviour change techniques taxonomy during the COVID-19 pandemic

Publication . Rosas, Raquel; Pimenta, Filipa; Leal, Isabel Maria Pereira; Schwarzer, Ralf

Dietary quality and sustainability are central matters to the international community, emphasised by the burden of the COVID-19 pandemic. To promote healthier and more sustainable food-related practices, the protocol of a web-based intervention to enhance adults’ food literacy is presented. The FOODLIT-Trial is a two-arm, parallel, experimental, and single-blinded randomised controlled trial delivered over 11 weeks. Based on the Food Literacy Wheel framework and supported by the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) and the Behaviour Change Techniques Taxonomy, weekly content with customised behaviour change techniques (experimental group) is hypothesised to be more effective to promote food behaviour change when compared to a single-time and non-customised delivery of food-related international guidelines, with no theoretically informed approaches (comparison group). Primary outcome is food literacy, including food-related knowledge, skills, and behaviours, assessed with the FOODLIT-Tool; a secondary outcome includes psychological mechanisms that efficaciously predict change in participants’ food literacy, measured with HAPA-driven items. Enlisted through online sources, participants will be assessed across five time points (baseline, post-intervention, and 3-, 6-, and 9-month follow-ups, i.e., T0–T4). A randomisation check will be conducted, analyses will follow an intention-to-treat approach, and linear two-level models within- (T0–T4) and between-level (nested in participants) will be computed, together with a longitudinal mediation analysis. If effective, the FOODLIT-Trial will provide for a multidimensional and cost-effective intervention to enable healthier and more sustainable food practices over the long term.

2022Journal article

Open access

FOODLIT-tool: Development and validation of the adaptable food literacy tool towards global sustainability within food systems

Publication . Rosas, Raquel; Pimenta, Filipa; Leal, I.; Schwarzer, Ralf

Facing multiple anthropogenic challenges and considering the current global pandemic, food sustainability is stated as threatened by major intergovernmental agencies. Given the heterogeneity of food systems, the need to enhance food-related behaviours by promoting the acquisition of knowledge and competencies, and the demand to involve stakeholder's diversity, this study aims to develop and validate an instrument that measures food literacy (FL), its determinants and its influential factors in an adult sample. Based on the Food Literacy Wheel (FLW) framework and integrated within the FOODLIT-PRO - Food Literacy Project, this study has three phases and a total of 2406 participants: (1) item development and content validity, (2) instrument development entailing item reduction strategies, factor extraction methodologies (exploratory and confirmatory analyses) and sensitivity testing, with two samples of a total of 1447 adults, and (3) instrument validation encompassing tests of dimensionality (confirmatory factor analysis), reliability (composite reliability) and validity (convergent and discriminant validity), and measure invariance testing, with 959 adults. Concerning statistical and psychometric properties, (1) a pool of 40 items (26 for FL; single items: five for determinants and nine for influential factors) was developed with inductive and deductive methodologies and reflected the FLW, (2) a 5-factor structure was explored, demonstrated acceptable model fit, and good sensitivity indices, and (3) a 5-dimensional reliable structure with 24 items was validated, configural invariance was achieved, and convergent and discriminant validity were significant in most dimensions. The FOODLIT-Tool contributes with an innovative measure of FL in adults that allows for a tailored assessment when approaching food-related issues within global food systems, providing a multidisciplinary tool that can be cross-widely applied to promote food-related behaviour change.

2022Journal article

Open access