The effect of a nutrition education program on food label literacy in hispanic parents of elementary school children

besity is epidemic in the United States. Approximately one third of American children and adolescents are overweight or obese. This may be due to parents' inability to make healthy food choices for their children. Obese children are likely to become obese adults and will suffer from co-morbidities such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, coronary artery disease, and degenerative joint disease. The main purpose of this pilot study was to assess whether a two-week nutrition education program would improve the food label literacy of Hispanic parents of elementary school children immediately after they attended it. This evidence-based project (EBP) used convenience sampling. Inclusion criteria consisted of Hispanic parents of elementary school age students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade in two elementary schools in Southern California. A 10-question pre- and posttest on food label literacy was administered. Descriptive statistics were conducted for all sociodemographic data. The Mann Whitney test was used to detect changes in food label literacy, differences between language groups, education level, and income levels. The Kruskal Wallis test was used to assess difference in knowledge based on time lived in the United States. Data was collected from 33 participants. The mean age of those completing the program was 38.8 +/- 9.3 years. Women comprised 91% of the sample; Spanish was preferred by 70%; 61% had at least a high school education; and 39% reported an income of less than...