Abstract
(1) Background: Improving nutrition literacy is crucial for maintaining a healthier state of the elderly to achieve healthy ageing. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a Nutrition Literacy Questionnaire for the Chinese Elderly (NLQ-E). (2) Methods: an NLQ-E was developed according to the core components of nutrition literacy for the elderly. Internal consistency, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to validate the reliability and validity of the NLQ-E. A cross-sectional study of 1490 elderly people was used to analyze the application of the NLQ-E. (3) Results: The NLQ-E was constructed with 3 domains (knowledge and understanding, healthy lifestyle and dietary behavior and skill), with a total of 25 questions. The overall NLQ-E had acceptable reliability and validity (Cronbach’s α = 0.678, χ2/DF = 4.750, RMSEA = 0.045, PCFI = 0.776 and PNFI = 0.759). The average nutrition literacy score of the subjects in this cross-sectional study was 65.95 (65.95 ± 10.93). The OR between the nutrition literacy score and multimorbidity was 0.965 (95% CI: 0.954, 0.976); (4) Conclusions: We developed and validated the NLQ-E and found that the nutrition literacy level of the Chinese elderly was generally low. This study is of great value to improve the nutrition literacy of the elderly and effectively prevent nutrition-related chronic diseases and multimorbidity.
Highlights
The purpose of this study is to develop the Nutrition Literacy Questionnaire for the Chinese Elderly (NLQ-E)
The construction of the core components of nutrition literacy for the elderly was mainly divided into the following 3 aspects: 1: the framework system of the core components of nutrition literacy for the elderly was constructed by means of literature retrieval, group discussion and expert consultation; 2: the dimensions and core components was determined based on Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2016), Dietary Guidelines for the Elderly (2016), Auxiliary Reference Food Atlas of Retrospective Dietary Survey and the National Application for 2015 China Aging and Health Assessment; 3: hold an expert discussion meeting to discuss, analyze and modify the scientific, rationality, applicability and readability of nutrition literacy core components for Chinese elderly
NLQ-E is a tool with acceptable reliability and validity to evaluate the nutrition literacy of the elderly
Summary
Population aging is a common global trend and a major social change happening in China. It is estimated that by 2030, the number of elderly people aged 65 and over will increase to approximately 240 million, of which the number of elderly people aged 80 and over will increase to more than 40 million. By 2050, the elderly population aged 80 and over will reach 100 million [1]. With the development of economy and the progress of medical technology, the average life expectancy of the elderly in China has been extended and the health level has been greatly improved, many elderly people still have irrational dietary structures due to the lack of nutritional knowledge and the influence of dietary culture and living habits. The intake of dietary fiber and micronutrients is insufficient, especially vitamin A, vitamin D, calcium, and iron [3]
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