The role of “Healthy Heart Store Tours” as nutrition education interventions for clients at risk of cardio vascular disease (CVD)

The Joint British Societies (JBS) guidelines recommend patients at risk of CVD receive cardio protective dietary advice. Usually this is delivered 1- to-1 in a clinical setting. Occasionally group approaches, including grocery store tours have been used but evaluation is limited. 27 patients (17 male), who had received an initial dietetic appointment, were recruited from a hospital lipid or GP clinic to attend a Store Tour. A dietitian facilitated the session and ensured relevant content.Tours were evaluated immediately by anonymous questionnaire and one month later by postal questionnaire to assess longer lasting impact. All 27 participants found the tour very interesting and 63% (17) learnt a lot, the rest learning something. 96% (26) intended to make dietary changes after the tour and 1 did not. 89% (24) felt they would find it easier to follow a healthy diet, two were unsure and one did not. 75% (20) felt it was useful to meet other people on the tour. The follow up questionnaire returned by 78% of patients showed that, of these, 86% (18), reported actually making beneficial cardio protective changes to their diets . Practical aspects of the store tour were well liked and patients valued having dietary messages illustrated with practical examples.The tours are time efficient and up to eight patients can be accommodated in a hour long session. Our findings suggest a longer lasting impact on dietary knowledge and behaviour, despite the fact that all patients had already received initial dietary advice prior to the study.