In high-income countries, significant diet-related health inequalities exist between people of different socioeconomic backgrounds. Individuals who face socioeconomic challenges are less likely to meet dietary guidelines, leading to increased incidence and prevalence of morbidity and mortality associated with dietary risk factors. To promote healthy eating, strategies may focus on individual-level factors (e.g., knowledge, skills and behaviour) along with broader societal factors (e.g., social determinants of health). The concept of food literacy is considered an individual-level factor and has been framed as a skill set that individuals must possess to effectively navigate the complexities of the modern food system. Food literacy interventions can be a complementary but effective tool for encouraging healthy eating behaviour among diverse populations, including those facing socioeconomic disadvantage. However, there is limited evidence to guide the design of food literacy intervention for vulnerable population groups. In the process of developing an ideal portfolio of solutions and strategies to promote food literacy and healthy eating for people experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage, this systematic scoping review aims to comprehensively examine the effects of food literacy interventions on promoting food literacy behaviours and healthy eating in adults (18 years and above) from various socioeconomic groups (SEGs) in high-income countries.
Method
The review includes both qualitative and quantitative papers obtained from academic databases, including Medline (via EBSCOhost), Embase, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. In addition to the electronic search, manual forward and backward citation searching will be conducted to identify additional relevant papers. Food literacy interventions will be evaluated across four domains: planning and management, selection, preparation, and consumption. Papers included in the review will be analysed for process, impact and outcome evaluation. The main outcome of a food literacy intervention is the modification in eating behaviour, while the mechanism for this action will be through impact measure of food literacy behaviours. Implementation factors will be extracted for process evaluation. This review will also include a range of dietary behaviour measures, such as diet quality index and dietary intake indicator. The screening process for all citations, full-text articles, and abstract data will be carried out by two reviewers independently. In case of any potential conflicts, they will be resolved through discussion. The quality of quantitative studies will be reviewed using ‘JBI critical appraisal checklist for analytical cross-sectional studies. The ‘Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Studies (COREQ)’ will be used to report on the quality of qualitative papers.