Nutrition knowledge, attitudes and perceived norms as correlates of selecting low-fat diets

This report describes the development and evaluation of scalesthat assess nutrition knowledge, attitudes about diet and perceivednorms associated with selecting low-fat diets. Participantswere 97 women, aged 45–59, with a broad range of dietaryfat intakes. Usual dietary patterns were assessed with a foodfrequency questionnaire, 8 days of food diaries and an 18-itemquestionnaire on fat-related diet behavior. Participants completeda questionnaire with 125 items. A Q-sort, and item and factoranalyses were used to develop three knowledge, two attitudeand four norms scales. These scales had fair internal consistencyreliabilities (ranges were 0.53–0.73), and most were significantlyassociated with both per cent of energy from fat and fat-relateddiet behavior. Factors most strongly associated with low-fatdiets were related to perceived norms and knowledge about fatin foods. In multiple regression models, norms and knowledgecontributed significantly and independently to both measuresof diet behavior, while the variance explained by attitudeswas small. These findings support the inclusion of componentsthat enhance practical food knowledge and change dietary behaviornorms in nutrition education programs. These scales may alsobe useful tools, both to evaluate nutrition intervention programsand to develop hypotheses about dietary behavior which can betested empirically.