Food literacy among a group of immigrants in Oslo, Norway and their experience with a food and health course

Abstract

tudies have shown that immigrants are a vulnerable group when it comes to health and nutrition. Immigrants to European countries have a higher prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) than the general population. There is a need for culturally appropriate health and nutrition courses to reach equity in health. There is a need to study how to improve existing programs, understand how the immigrants perceive their own food literacy and how they feel it can be improved. It is also important to understand how they feel about the nutrition and health courses and get their input on how it could be improved to meet their needs and reach out to more immigrants with the information. The aim of this study was to explore the food literacy among a group of newly resettled immigrants in Oslo and their experiences with a food and health course called Møteplassen or The Meeting Place. Method The study had a qualitative research design with a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach. 8 semi-structured interviews were conducted of immigrants who participated in an 8-week food and health course. To analyze and interpret the results the IPA approach was used. Results The results indicate that the participants are familiar with several notions related to Food Literacy. There are some possible barriers to adopt healthier food habits, like religion and culture. A couple of the participants had tendencies to be food insecure from not having enough money for food all month. Participants had positive thoughts about the Meeting place and would like to have more offers for similar food and health courses. The participants did however have some thoughts about themes important to them that could be included. They had thoughts on improvements and ideas for changes. Conclusion The Meeting place seemed to have increased the immigrant’s knowledge about healthy diets and they were positive to the concept. Culturally appropriate food and health courses could promote the immigrant's Food Literacy and motivation to adopt healthier diets.