Assessment of Nutritional Literacy and Related Factor in Women Referring to Urban Primary Health Care Centers in Northeastern Iran Publisher



N Peyman NOOSHIN ; F Najafi FERESHTEH ; R Yousefi RAZIEH ; E Mirzaei EHSAN ; H Ramezani HODA ; F Sedghi FATEME
Source: Journal of Health Literacy Published:2025

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Women play an important role in choosing and preparing high-quality food suitable for family members' physical needs. This study was conducted to investigate the level of nutritional literacy and factors affecting it in women referred to urban primary health care centers in Mashhad in northeastern Iran. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive- analytical study, the data of 440 women 15-65 years’ old who referred to urban primary health care centers in Mashhad were collected using standard evaluation instrument of nutrition literacy on adults (EINLA) from 2023 to 2024 and analyzed by Stata software version 17 using the Independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, Spearman’s correlation coefficient, and simple /multiple linear regression. Results: The mean and standard deviation of age was 33.53±11.23. About 48.2% of the participants, had adequate nutrition literacy, and 5.5% had insufficient nutrition literacy. The highest score was related to the recognition of food groups and the lowest score was for the calculation of food units and nutritional calculation and reading of food labels. There is a significant relationship between variables of education level and job, with the participants' nutrition literacy status (P-value<0.001). Conclusion: Many women visiting urban health centers in Mashhad lack adequate nutrition literacy, particularly those with low income and education, who should be prioritized in nutrition literacy interventions. Nutrition education should focus more on enhancing skills in calculating food units and analyzing food labels. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.