Self-efficacy and readiness of women to reduce discretionary salt consumption

There is a direct relationship between high intake of salt and increased risk of many non-communicable diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the self-efficacy and readiness of women to reduce discretionary salt consumption.
This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016 using a self-administered questionnaire on 561 women attended to the women care centers of Tehran. The questionnaire contained questions about awareness of the relationship between salt and diseases, disposure to decreasing consumption due to family disease, discretionary salt consumption, stages of change, self-efficacy and demographic status of women. Data was analyzed by chi-square, ANOVA and logistic regression tests.
The mean age of women was 36.21±10.1 and 39.8% of them were exposed with reducing salt intake. Over 80% of women always or often add salt to their food during preparation. A third of women were in pre-contemplation stage and 41.2% were ready to reduce salt consumption. Stages of change increased with increasing self-efficacy (r=0.42, p The results showed that salt is used for cooking food by a large number of women and less than half of them are ready to behavior change. In general, stages of change increased with increasing self-efficacy. Because the self-efficacy is important for initiating and maintaining behavior change, for empowering women increasing self-efficacy and replacement of salt with healthy flavors should be emphasized.