Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Establishing criterion validity for the Revised Critical Nutrition Literacy Tool in U.S. college students

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Janette Bedoyan
. Jade McNamara 1
. Melissa D. Olfert 2
. Carol Byrd‑Bredbenner 3
. Geoffrey W. Greene

1 School of Food and Agriculture, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA

2 Division of Animal and Nutritional Sciences, Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Design, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA,

3 Department of Nutritional Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Critical nutrition literacy (CNL) plays an important role in how college students make
everyday decisions about nutrition choices. Increasing CNL is an aim of many introductory nutrition
courses, but there are limited instruments measuring this construct. This study aimed to assess the
changeability of CNL and the relationship between CNL and markers of diet quality in young adults.
DESIGN: This was a two‑phase research project consisting of a nonexperimental, pre–post study
and a cross‑sectional assessment from 2018 to 2019. Participants were U.S. college students,
18‑24 years old, recruited from introductory‑level courses from three participating universities, located
in Rhode Island, West Virginia, and New Jersey.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Interventions consisted of (1) a 4‑credit, 13‑week nutrition course
and (2) a cross‑sectional, online behavior, environment, and perception survey. CNL was measured
using the Revised CNL Tool (CNLT‑R) instrument across both phases. Measures for phases
include: (1) the changeability of CNL and (2) the relationship between CNL and markers of diet quality.
ANALYSIS: Paired t‑tests and multivariate analysis of variance were utilized through SPSS
version 25.0.
RESULTS: CNL score significantly increased from baseline to postintervention from 3.38 ± 0.48 to
3.61 ± 0.55 (P = 0.014). There was an overall significant effect of CNL on markers of diet quality, such
as cups of fruits and vegetables (F/V) and teaspoons of added sugar (F [2,1321] = 3.12, P < 0.05;
Wilks’ Λ = 0.99).
CONCLUSIONS: This research found that an introduction to nutrition course was associated with
an increase in CNL and that CNL is related to diet quality. The instrument could be used by nutrition
educators as an outcome assessment. Future research should investigate other components of the
CNL construct as well as predictive validity.

Keywords

Decision‑making
health behavior
health education
health literacy
young adult
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 11, Issue 1
January 2021
Pages 1-8

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