Evaluation of a Digital Food and Nutrition Literacy Survey to Support Improvements in Diet Quality

Abstract

Background Using digital tools to support healthy food choices and access may counteract the negative effects of living in underresourced communities on diet quality. Objectives This study aims to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a Digital Food and Nutrition Literacy (DFNL) survey and its association with diet quality for informing future tailored interventions to improve diet quality. Methods The DFNL survey was theory-informed by the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills model and a multidimensional model for making healthy food choices online. In this cross-sectional study, 196 adults from a low-income, low–food access community in Northeast Connecticut completed an online survey. Principal component analysis was used to identify a DFNL index and components for multivariable linear regression analyses with diet quality, an external variable theoretically expected to be associated with DFNL. Diet quality was assessed using the Short Healthy Eating Index and liking-based Diet Quality Index. Results The 10-item DFNL index was internally reliable and explained 53.8% of total variance through 3 interpretable components—online grocery shopping, online nutrition information, and online communication. Associations between DFNL and diet quality varied by DFNL component and diet quality measure; the strongest associations were observed for online nutrition information and online grocery shopping components, particularly with adequacy scores of both diet quality measures. Conclusions These preliminary findings support the construct validity of the DFNL index. Assessing DFNL may help identify modifiable behavioral skills in community nutrition interventions that can be tailored to participants’ knowledge gaps and motivation to support diet quality in underresourced populations.