Enhancing Health Literacy Through “I Watch Sodium” Application among Prehypertension University Staff: A Quasi-experimental Study

Abstract

Excessive sodium intake adversely affects health outcomes and leads to premature death among adults. This quasi-experimental study was conducted with two groups using a pretest-posttest to study the effects of enhancing health literacy using the “I Watch Sodium” application. Participants were aged between 30 and 59 years, had prehypertension and consumed a high sodium diet at least twice a day. The study sample consisted of 80 members of the university staff in a province in the lower northern of Thailand. They were equally assigned to an experimental and a comparison group. The experimental group participated in the intervention program, while the comparison group did not. Data was collected between February and April 2023. The primary outcome measures consisted of Health Literacy about Sodium Consumption, Sodium Consumption Behavior, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Diet Consumption Behavior, the Amount of Sodium Consumed, and blood pressure were measured at pretest and post-test, eight weeks after the completion of the program. The descriptive statistics, the chi-square test, an independent t-test, and the paired t-test were used to analyze the data. The results showed that after the intervention, the experimental group had significantly increased mean health literacy scores about sodium consumption and DASH diet consumption behavior. In addition, the mean scores of sodium consumption behavior, the amount of sodium consumed, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly compared to the comparison group eight weeks after the study ended. Nurses and health professionals can apply the “I Watch Sodium” app to people with prehypertension. However, randomized controlled trials and 24-hour sodium excretion measurements are required for future studies