The important role of health literacy in health eating behavior among adults during the Covid-19 pandemic

10.30207/AHLA.202312.0046

Tri Sutanti Puji Hartati；Tsamara Alifia Ramadhani；Ratu Dien Prima Fermeza；Emyr Reisha Isaura

adults ； Covid-19 ； healthy eating behavior ； health literacy

The Proceeding of the 9th AHLA International Health Literacy Conference: Health Literacy and Social Resilience

2023（2023 / 12 / 01）

48 - 48

英文

Background: Health literacy is essential in improving individual health behaviors and outcomes, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Low health literacy people may experience lower health status due to being unable to understand and utilize health information to protect and improve their health. Health literacy may affect people's healthy eating behavior (e.g., the frequency of food and beverage consumption) and indirectly affect their dietary intake. Meanwhile, healthy dietary intake has shown protective effects on the immune systems and health outcomes during the COVID-19 crisis. Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the association between health literacy and health eating behavior. Methods: This research used cross sectional design with sample size of 85 COVID-19 survivors, aged 18 and older. Data collection includes social demographic factors (age, gender, education, occupation, social status), Health Literacy (using HLS-SF12), and Health Eating Behavior (using HES-5). Results: Most of the respondents are women aged 28.52±10.04 year, have higher education, have a job, and have a middle social level. Frequency of fruits (β = 0.020, 95%CI -0.046 to 0.087, p=0.608), vegetables (β = -0.008, 95%CI -0.070 to 0.053, p=0.786), and whole grains consumption (β = -0,025, 95%CI -0.094 to 0.044, p=0.473) was not associated with health literacy. However, frequency of dairy (β = -0.070, 95%CI -0.134 to -0,006, p=0.032), and fish consumption (β = -0.076, 95%CI -0.145 to 0.007, p=0.031) was associated with health literacy. Conclusion: Health literacy is associated with healthy eating behavior, for example, the frequency of dairy and fish consumption. Healthy eating behavior is needed to achieve maximum nutrient intake. To improve healthy eating behavior, it is necessary to have a program that can improve health literacy. Therefore, health providers may need to pay more attention to increasing health literacy by holding educational promotion programs to improve healthy eating behavior.