Abstract
Purpose: Health literacy forms the basis of a healthy lifestyle. Almost thirty percent of the Dutch population has low health literacy (LHL), which means that they have difficulty obtaining, understanding, and applying health-related information. Therefore, this group has more difficulty maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Many existing lifestyle counselling interventions are not accessible to people with LHL because those are not tailored to their needs. This study explored the needs of people with LHL regarding physical activity and dietary counselling.
Methods: From 3 October to 11 November 2022, 13 semi-structured interviews were conducted among 8 people with LHL and 5 healthcare professionals familiar with the target group. Participants were recruited through interest groups for people with LHL. Interview topics included adherence to a healthy lifestyle, comprehensibility of current lifestyle counselling, and needs regarding lifestyle counselling. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed non-verbatim, and coded applying inductive thematic analysis.
Findings: Five main themes emerged: (1) challenges in adhering to lifestyle advice, (2) problems with comprehensibility of lifestyle counselling, (3) mode of delivery, (4) understandability of the information, (5) applicability of the information. Participants often did not follow lifestyle advice because they did not know how to apply the advice in daily life. Current lifestyle guidance through consultations with healthcare professionals and leaflets were often misunderstood due to the use of long sentences with difficult terminology and numbers. Participants found existing apps for lifestyle guidance too difficult to use. Participants preferred blended lifestyle counseling in which guidance from a healthcare provider is complemented with daily guidance. They would prefer to receive daily guidance via a simple app or paper workbooks. To provide comprehensible lifestyle counselling, it is important to consider the choice of words and style, the structure, the use of numbers, and the use of images. To make lifestyle advice applicable, it is important that the advice encourages concrete actions with an explicit step-by-step plan.
Conclusions: The findings provide concrete starting points for developing interventions to support a healthy lifestyle in people with LHL. The insights will be used to develop a physical activity and dietary intervention through co-creation with the target group.
Methods: From 3 October to 11 November 2022, 13 semi-structured interviews were conducted among 8 people with LHL and 5 healthcare professionals familiar with the target group. Participants were recruited through interest groups for people with LHL. Interview topics included adherence to a healthy lifestyle, comprehensibility of current lifestyle counselling, and needs regarding lifestyle counselling. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed non-verbatim, and coded applying inductive thematic analysis.
Findings: Five main themes emerged: (1) challenges in adhering to lifestyle advice, (2) problems with comprehensibility of lifestyle counselling, (3) mode of delivery, (4) understandability of the information, (5) applicability of the information. Participants often did not follow lifestyle advice because they did not know how to apply the advice in daily life. Current lifestyle guidance through consultations with healthcare professionals and leaflets were often misunderstood due to the use of long sentences with difficult terminology and numbers. Participants found existing apps for lifestyle guidance too difficult to use. Participants preferred blended lifestyle counseling in which guidance from a healthcare provider is complemented with daily guidance. They would prefer to receive daily guidance via a simple app or paper workbooks. To provide comprehensible lifestyle counselling, it is important to consider the choice of words and style, the structure, the use of numbers, and the use of images. To make lifestyle advice applicable, it is important that the advice encourages concrete actions with an explicit step-by-step plan.
Conclusions: The findings provide concrete starting points for developing interventions to support a healthy lifestyle in people with LHL. The insights will be used to develop a physical activity and dietary intervention through co-creation with the target group.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 14 Jun 2023 |
| Event | 22nd International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity Annual Meeting 2023 - Uppsala Konsert & Kongress (UKK), Uppsala, Sweden Duration: 14 Jun 2023 → 17 Jun 2023 https://annualmeeting.isbnpa.org/ |
Conference
| Conference | 22nd International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity Annual Meeting 2023 |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | ISBNPA 2023 |
| Country/Territory | Sweden |
| City | Uppsala |
| Period | 14/06/23 → 17/06/23 |
| Internet address |
Keywords
- eHealth
- qualitative
- needs assessment
- low health literacy
- coaching
- lifestyle
- physical activity
- nutrition
- diet