Testing Efficacy of Teaching Food Safety and Identifying Variables that Affect Learning in a Low-Literacy Population

Abstract

Nurses at a meeting of the Asociación de Hemato Oncología Pediátrica de Centroamérica y El Caribe recognized food safety as one of the main issues affecting patient care. The objective was to increase awareness of food safety issues among caregivers for pediatric cancer patients in Guatemala and El Salvador. A low-literacy booklet about food safety, "Alimentación del niño con cáncer (Feeding the child with cancer)," was developed for caregivers. Tests were developed to assess information acquisition and retention. An educator's guide was developed for consistency of education along with a demographics questionnaire. The efficacy of the booklet was tested with 162 caregivers of patients with newly diagnosed leukemia. Information retention was tested 1 and 3 months after the initial education. The booklet was found to be efficient for food safety education. There was no significant difference between post-educational knowledge in either country at 1 month or in Guatemala at 3 months. Pre-educational knowledge was not associated with any demographic variable except for self-reported ability to read in El Salvador. There was no significant association between learning ability and demographic variables in either country. Caregivers from El Salvador had a better ability to learn than caregivers from Guatemala. Education using the booklet greatly improved food safety knowledge, which remained high 1 and 3 months later. Education with the booklet was efficacious for teaching a low-literacy population about food safety. However, it is unknown which part of the education contributed to the significant improvement in knowledge.

A Framework for Adapted Nutritional Therapy for Children With Cancer in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Report From the SIOP PODC Nutrition Working Group

“…Food safety guidelines for shopping, storage of food, food preparation, and the cooking and serving of food as described by the Food and Drug Administration may be used as a reference for education . Food safety guidelines that have been adapted for low literacy populations in LMIC have been successful in promoting food safety among children with cancer …”

“…[37] Food safety guidelines that have been adapted for low literacy populations in LMIC have been successful in promoting food safety among children with cancer. [38]…”

Experimental Study of Development Food Safety Booklet using Local Language

“…In line with this, several studies have concluded that booklets can be used as a medium for food safety literacy because they can increase food safety knowledge which remains high (within one to three months after the intervention is carried out), effective for transmitting food safety information for adults, and suitable for use in societies with heterogeneous educational profiles because it is simple, easy to understand and systematic. [5][6][7] Furthermore, booklets are widely used as media for health promotion because they have advantages such as low production costs, complete and easyto-understand information, attractive designs that make a person more interested and less bored to read them frequently, and portability. 8 As stated by WHO through the Health Promotion Glossary, health behavior is basically shaped by the social, cultural, residential, and occupational environment.…”