Exploration of the definition and components of food and nutrition literacy among junior secondary school students: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Food and nutrition literacy (FANLit) has been proposed to promote healthy diet behaviour and is believed to decrease the prevalence of overweight, obesity and chronic disease. However, the perspective of junior secondary school students, aged 12–15 years and stakeholders towards FANLit is not well-defined. Thus, this study aims to explore the definition and components of FANLit. METHODS: This qualitative study was carried out in Health region 2 including Phitsanulok, Sukhothai, Tak, Uttradit and Pethchboon. 49 participants from national and regional levels of Thailand were recruited. Data were collected by in-depth interview and focus group discussion using semi-structured questionnaire. Interview data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: FANLit is defined as an individual’s level of knowledge and skills (fundamental, interactive and critical) that relates to food and nutrition for appropriate selection of food and nutrient. Four themes of FANLit were identified as follows: 1) food and nutrition knowledge (Subthemes: food knowledge, food understanding, nutrition knowledge and nutrition understanding), 2) functional food and nutrition literacy (Subthemes: accessing to food and nutrition information, food selection, food preparation, daily food and nutrition planning and management), 3) interactive food and nutrition literacy (Subthemes: communication with others, sharing and discussion), and 4) critical food and nutrition literacy (Subthemes: information used in decision making, healthy food selection and effective budgeting). CONCLUSION: The results presented beneficial information regarding FANLit definition which is the initial stage to develop the assessing instrument and the intervention to improve FANlit in the adolescent group.