Consumer Behavior at Supermarkets during Grocery Shopping in Saudi Arabia: A National Observational Study

BACKGROUND

Use of nutrition facts labels can be associated with healthier eating behaviors; however, consumers currently face difficulty understanding these labels or do not use them often. Thus, improving healthy grocery shopping behaviors among consumers might increase the overall health of the community.

AIM

The study aims to explore consumers' behavior during grocery shopping and measure their basic knowledge regarding food product labels.

METHOD

A national observational study (cross-sectional) was carried out on a convenience sample of Saudi Arabian residents aged 18 years and above. The data were obtained from all 13 administrative regions in Saudi Arabia at three different major supermarkets in each region. The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, and binary logistic regression was used to investigate behavior variables.

RESULTS

A total of 12,675 participants were observed; of those, 52.2% did not interact with the product before putting it in their shopping cart. The study found that the production date (66.6%) and expiry date (51%) were the most frequently checked aspects of food labels; they were checked more frequently than nutrition facts (29%). Furthermore, there was a low level of dietary knowledge among consumers and a moderate level of believing food packages and media claims.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that the Saudi community's understanding of food product information is limited and greater awareness and community education campaigns are required to improve the use of nutritional labels and increase nutritional knowledge.

Psychological Distress Amongst Health Workers and the General Public During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND

The rapid spread of COVID-19 worldwide has confined millions of people to their homes and has caused a substantial degree of psychological distress. This study aims to investigate the psychological distress impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among the Saudi population.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional study, using data collected from 3036 participants via an online self-reported questionnaire. The psychological distress was constructed using the COVID-19 Peritraumatic Distress Index to classify individuals in the sample as having normal, mild or severe distress levels. The study used descriptive analysis and multinomial logistic regressions to examine the sociodemographic factors associated with psychological distress levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.

RESULTS

The evidence showed that 40% of the Saudi population are distressed due to COVID-19, of whom approximately 33% are mildly distressed, while 7% are severely distressed. The distress levels are particularly high amongst the young, females, private sector employees and health workers, especially those working on the frontline.

CONCLUSION

The COVID-19 pandemic is associated with increased distress amongst people living in Saudi Arabia. In support of evidence found in other countries, the study has established that the distress levels vary across different sociodemographic characteristics. Therefore, limiting people's psychological damage demands both medium- and long-term policy strategies, which include mapping the rates of stress and anxiety for effective psychological treatment allocation and establishing innovative online methods of heightening people's mental wellbeing.

Health literacy in Saudi Arabia: Implications for public health and healthcare access

This study aims to describe the distribution of low health literacy (HL) in the population in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and to analyze factors associated with low HL in KSA. A cross-sectional national survey using quota sampling, population-based of residents of KSA conducted via phone interviews supplemented by in-person interviews. The survey included an overall evidence-based measurement of HL. Both descriptive statistics of the sample and a multivariable logistic regression model predicting low HL were developed. A total of 3557 surveys were available for analysis, and 46% of the respondents were classified as having low HL. In regression modelling, low HL was associated with older age groups (age 47-56 odds ratio [OR] 1.60, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.30-1.97; age 57-66 OR 1.38, 95% CI 0.98-1.94), the regions of Ha'il (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.5-0.85) and Najran (OR 1.27, 95% CI 0.99-1.64), having been formerly married, lower levels of education (less than elementary OR 3.20, 95% CI 2.10-4.88; and elementary, OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.14-2.30), lower levels of income, and having sought healthcare exactly three times in the last year. Approximately half of KSA has low HL, and risk factors for low HL were older ages, lower income and education, having been formerly married, and a moderate pattern of health use. Future studies are needed to better characterize the distribution and determinants of low HL across KSA.