Food Literacy and Type 1 Diabetes

Food literacy, the ability to plan and manage, select, prepare, and eat healthy foods, is a contemporary concept that provides a mechanism to understand the relationship between food-related knowledge, skills (ie., culinary competencies) and health behaviours and its impact on decision-making regarding dietary intake. The Diabetes Canada 2018 Clinical Practice Guidelines have recognized the role that food skills, a component of food literacy, have in managing glycemic control in patients living with type 1 diabetes. The guidelines also point out that no studies to date have investigated this skill level in the diabetic population and that interventions aimed at improving these skills would be beneficial for patients. There is therefore a need to assess the current level of food literacy among young adults with type 1 diabetes in order for future studies to develop targeted interventions.

The project will be cross-sectional in design and data will be collected with an on-line questionnaire. This questionnaire will allow for the evaluation of the level of food literacy in young adults with and without type 1 diabetes. The online survey software that will be utilized is Survey Monkey.

The study will be publicized through posts on Facebook©, Twitter©, and other forms of social media as well as on websites of collaborating diabetes organizations (see appendix B for a list of organizations). Participants interested in the study will be invited to go on the survey webpage. The first information presented will be the electronic consent form. If they have questions while reading the consent form, they will have the possibility to email or call a research assistant. Once they have agreed, they will be re-directed to the first question. The questionnaire takes approximately 20-25 minutes to complete. Completion of the questionnaire will trigger a page requesting them to email the study coordinator in order to be entered into the lottery for a chance to win an Ipad mini.

The survey includes sociodemographic questions as well as medical and diet history. For participants with diabetes, this includes duration since their diabetes onset, types of treatments (insulin), application of carbohydrate counting and the "Type 1 Diabetes Nutrition Knowledge Survey". Items on actual food intake, such as fruits and vegetables, and self-efficacy regarding cooking are included. Food literacy will be evaluated using the "Short food literacy questionnaire (SQLF)", a short 12-item questionnaire that we adapted for Canada. A score for the SQLF will be calculated (maximum 52 points) and participants will be categorized under 4 different groups (Inadequate, Problematic, Sufficient, Excellent). Participants categorized in inadequate or problematic will be considered having low food literacy. Three questions regarding cooking ability were taken from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). Current sources of information regarding diet and nutrition, as well as questions to assess knowledge of chronic diseases linked to dietary intake, the frequency at which participants cook their own meals vs. eat out vs. consume prepackaged meals as well as specific dietary habits such as skipping breakfast will also be investigated. Lastly, perceived food environment will be assessed by asking questions regarding where participants shop for food and their satisfaction regarding the selection of food available to them.