An Evaluation of a Virtual Food Safety Program for Low-Income Families: Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior.

Juan C Archila-Godínez,Yaohua Feng,Tressie Barrett,Lia Rosa,Han Chen,Leah Klinestiver,Shauna C Henley

doi:10.3390/foods11030355

Abstract

Low-income families are reported to have a limited knowledge of food safety and resources to follow food safety practices compared with the rest of the population. This paper evaluated a virtual food safety educational program targeting food handlers in low-income families. Trained native speakers of English and Spanish delivered course materials in both languages. A total of 60 individuals participated in the program, with 30 participants in each language group. Most were female, and most had fewer than three children. After the program, participants’ food safety knowledge and self-reported safe food practice behavior scores increased significantly from 5.32 to 7.43 (out of 8.00) and from 24.78 to 29.30 (out of 35.00), respectively. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) was used to understand individuals’ behavior change intention of food safety practices. All the TPB constructs’ scores, including attitudes toward the behavior, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, and behavior change intentions, were improved significantly; however, only the subjective norms and perceived behavioral control were significantly correlated with the behavior change intentions. This virtual educational program improved low-income individuals’ food safety knowledge and changed their food safety attitudes and behaviors, giving a path to develop and evaluate more virtual food safety educational programs in the future.

Highlights

Foodborne illness is a major public health concern in the United States
The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a dialogue-based virtualdelivery food safety educational program—developed for food handlers in low-income families with young children—in improving participants’ knowledge, attitudes toward the behavior, and behavior change intentions, and to better understand how subjective norms and perceived behavioral control (PBC) influence such behavior change
After the individual analysis of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) constructs, behavior change intentions, and self-reported safe food practice behaviors, this study presents how the three constructs are associated with one another

Summary

Introduction

Foodborne illness is a major public health concern in the United States. An estimated48 million (one in six) Americans experience foodborne illness every year, 3000 of whom die [1]. Foodborne illness is a major public health concern in the United States. As with most health issues, some population groups are more susceptible to contracting a foodborne illness, including children under age five, adults 65 years and older, pregnant women, and the immunocompromised [2]. Social determinants, such as an individual’s economic stability, can increase the risk of acquiring a foodborne illness. Low-income individuals are more susceptible to this condition [3]. Low-income individuals, consisting of a significant portion of minorities in the United

Methods

Results

Conclusion