A qualitative study exploring the dietary gatekeeper's food literacy and barriers to healthy eating in the home environment

Wijayaratne, Sanjeewa Pradeep; Westberg, Kate; Reid, Mike; Worsley, Anthony

doi:10.1002/hpja.398

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Food consumption within families is ultimately the product of interactions and negotiations between family members [46,47]. For greatest impact, efforts to improve food literacy and enhance skills and behaviours necessary to select and prepare healthy foods should target both men and women [47][48][49]. Family meals should be an educational tool for the acquisition of healthy eating habits, which will have an impact on nutritional behavior of all family members.…”

Section: Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dietary practices, food purchasing, and perceptions about healthy food availability and affordability: a cross-sectional study of low-income Malaysian adults

Eng¹,

Lim²,

Ngongo

et al. 2022

BMC Public Health

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Background Malaysia has the highest rate of overweight and obesity among Asian countries. Obesity is increasing particularly among low-income populations. This study aimed to assess dietary practices among low-income adults in urban communities, including gender and ethnic variation, to inform the development of locally tailored, evidence-based interventions for health promotion. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted from August to December 2020. Stratified sampling was employed to recruit 2983 low-income adults from households in the bottom 40% of the economic spectrum (B40) at six public, low-cost housing flats in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Face-to-face interviews were conducted using a structured questionnaire to understand dietary practices, perceptions of healthy food availability and affordability, and factors affecting food purchasing decisions. Results A staggering 89.5% of B40 adults were found to not consume adequate daily amounts of fruits and vegetables. In addition, 68.1% reported consuming sugar-sweetened beverages at least once per week, including commercially packed ready-to-drink beverages, sugar-added self-prepared drinks, and premixed drinks. Intake was statistically significantly higher among men (71.7%), Malays (70.3%), and Indians (69.9%). Bread and other commercially baked goods were the most common processed foods, and 52.9% of respondents consumed it at least once per week. Majorities reported that healthy foods were moderately available and priced. The top three reported factors affecting food purchase choices were price (79.4%), availability (75%), and taste (73%). Conclusions Adults in low-cost housing communities have unhealthy dietary patterns with low intake of fruits and vegetables and high intake of ultra-processed foods and calorie-dense local foods, with variations across gender and ethnicity. The study highlighted the need for educating low-income families on diet-disease relationships and possibilities for inexpensive, healthy eating that rely on minimally processed fresh foods. Policymakers engaging the food industry are advised to consider how to increase the affordability and availability of healthy foods in low-income communities in urban areas.

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Section: Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dietary practices, food purchasing, and perceptions about healthy food availability and affordability: a cross-sectional study of low-income Malaysian adults

Eng¹,

Lim²,

Ngongo

et al. 2022

BMC Public Health

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“…They were satisfied with their current behaviour or found it too difficult to change their habits (e.g., due to financial or logistic challenges or a lack of knowledge). These motivational, financial, and practical barriers have previously been described in other research on parental perceptions regarding children's dietary and PA behaviours [29][30][31][32]. Globally, three key factors necessary for behavioural change initiated by parents could be identified: (1) awareness of one's behaviour, (2) willingness to change, and (3) ability to change (including e.g., financial and practical abilities and parental food literacy).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

“Mummy, Can I Join a Sports Club?” A Qualitative Study on the Impact of Health-Promoting Schools on Health Behaviours in the Home Setting

Hahnraths

Willeboordse

Jungbauer

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Information regarding school-based health-promoting interventions’ potential effects in the home environment is scarce. Gaining more insight into this is vital to optimise interventions’ potential. The Healthy Primary School of the Future (HPSF) is a Dutch initiative aiming to improve children’s health and well-being by providing daily physical activity sessions and healthy school lunches. This qualitative study examines if and how HPSF influenced children’s and parents’ physical activity and dietary behaviours at home. In 2018–2019, 27 semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents from two HPSFs. Interviews were recorded and transcribed, and data were coded and interpreted through thematic analysis. HPSF resulted in various behavioural changes at home, initiated by both children and parents. Parents reported improvements in healthy behaviours, as well as compensatory, unhealthy behaviours. Reasons for behavioural change included increased awareness, perceived support to adopt healthy behaviours, and children asking for the same healthy products at home. Barriers to change included no perceived necessity for change, lack of HPSF-related information provision, and time and financial constraints. Both child-to-adult intergenerational learning and parent-initiated changes play an important role in the transfer of health behaviours from school to home and are therefore key mechanisms to maximise school-based health-promoting interventions’ impact.

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“…Studies exploring the dietary gatekeeper's food literacy and its influence on the family's dietary outcomes are beginning to emerge, suggesting that it can help overcome challenges to healthy eating in the home environment (Perry et al., 2017; Wijayaratne et al., 2020). However, research has not yet identified how parents, particularly the dietary gatekeeper, share their knowledge of the four domains that comprise food literacy with others in the household.…”

Section: Conceptual Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Food Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing food literacy in young children in the home environment

Wijayaratne

Westberg

Reid

et al. 2021

Int J Consumer Studies

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Food literacy is a concept that encompasses a range of skills and knowledge required by consumers to navigate an increasingly complex foodscape and ensure healthy dietary behaviours. It is important that these skills are developed from a young age as food‐related consumption behaviours can persist into adulthood. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the family's dietary gatekeeper, the person primarily responsible for food shopping and meal preparation in the home environment, shares their food literacy skills and knowledge with young children and to identify any challenges they face in doing so. In‐depth semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with parents with high levels of food literacy who had children between 5 and 9 years old. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings identify that dietary gatekeepers share their food literacy capabilities with young children in four main ways as follows: (1) communicating the relationship between food and health, (2) engaging children in food selection, (3) involving children in simple food preparation tasks and (4) modelling healthy behaviours. These practices incorporate skills and knowledge related to the preparation, selection and eating domains of food literacy. Several challenges were also encountered by gatekeepers when trying to share food literacy including time pressure, safety concerns, lack of interest from children and conflict between siblings. The current study highlights the importance of developing initiatives to encourage and support dietary gatekeepers to educate and develop food literacy in young children and to assist them in overcoming the challenges in doing so.

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A qualitative study exploring the dietary gatekeeper's food literacy and barriers to healthy eating in the home environment

Cited by 9 publications

References 61 publications

Dietary practices, food purchasing, and perceptions about healthy food availability and affordability: a cross-sectional study of low-income Malaysian adults

Dietary practices, food purchasing, and perceptions about healthy food availability and affordability: a cross-sectional study of low-income Malaysian adults

“Mummy, Can I Join a Sports Club?” A Qualitative Study on the Impact of Health-Promoting Schools on Health Behaviours in the Home Setting

Developing food literacy in young children in the home environment

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