Health literacy and nutrition literacy among mother with preschool children: What factors are effective?

Abstract

Children's obesity behaviors are associated with parents' low health literacy. Nutrition Literacy (NL) is an essential component to enhancing nutrition quality, as well as health and well-being. The study's objective was to determine health literacy (HL) and NL among mothers with children preschool children (under 7 years old in Zanjan city, Iran).Participants in this cross-sectional were 162 mothers with preschool children referred to Ayatollah Mousavi Hospital's pediatric clinic in Zanjan, Iran, during July and August 2022. The sample technique was convenient. In IBM SPSS 20 software, a two-step cluster analysis, the Chi-square\\ Fisher exact, and Man-Whitney tests were used.HL and NL had a mean ± SD of 71.26 ± 15.84 and 71.78 ± 11.86, respectively. The two-step cluster analysis identified two clusters, with mothers in cluster 1 (n = 141) having sufficient HL and NL and mothers in cluster 2 (n = 21) having insufficient HL and NL. Cluster 1 mothers were older, had a college degree, lived in a city, were employed, and had a better financial situation. They obtained health and nutrition information from the Internet, either alone or in conjunction with other sources.Based on clustering analysis, it was observed that the low level of education, living in the village and being a housewife of the mothers, is related to the low level of HL and NL. By increasing the level of education of mothers, it is possible to help protect children from malnutrition or overfeeding in the future. Also, providing suitable job opportunities for mothers can help in this matter.