Socioeconomic status and personal characteristics as predictors of dietary change

Abstract

An understanding of personal and socioeconomic predictors of dietary change is necessary for the development of effective public health nutrition education programs. Four hundred and eighty-seven volunteers were recruited from the electoral rolls of higher and lower socioeconomic status (SES) suburbs in an Australian city to take part in a 3-month, personalized, one-to-one nutrition education program. This study reports on predictors of dietary behavior change in the 249 volunteers assigned to the intervention condition. Change in usual food intake, change in nutrition knowledge, diet-related beliefs, confidence about making dietary changes, dietary stage of change and SES were assessed. The belief that diet has a causative role in the development of high blood cholesterol level, obesity and heart disease, nutrition knowledge, and interviewer-assessed confidence about making dietary changes were all predictive of change in this sample of volunteers. Improvements in knowledge about food selection and how to apply this knowledge to personal dietary habits were also associated with dietary change. Dietary stage of change was found to be associated with dietary intake, but did not predict behavior change. This study has shown that food selection knowledge, belief about diet-disease relationships, and attitudes toward dietary change goals may usefully be addressed in nutrition education programs that occur in public health, community health, or work-site settings.