Objective To assess the effectiveness of a government-led project on the distribution of salt measuring spoons as an intervention to improve knowledge and behavior on restricted salt usage among residents in Shanghai.
Methods Data were collected before delivery of salt measuring spoons (baseline) and repeated at the 1st, 6th, and 12th months after intervention lau nching (2008-2009). The questionnaire consisted of two sets, one for individuals and the other for households. A total of 2 941 resident households and 6 748 residents were enrolled into the study after invalidated questionnaire were excluded.
Results On the awareness of core knowledge, all residents' response rate was 39.52% at baseline, and rose to 69.76%, 74.14%, and 79.32% after 1, 6, and 12 months of intervention, respectively; the fixed cooks' response rate was 38.23% at baseline, and rose to 70.39%, 74.32%, and 80.32% after 1, 6, and 12 months of intervention, respectively, indicating a steady trend of increasing. The proportion of family members' discouraging excessive salt usage and that of fixed cooks with an intention to reduce salt usage were on the rise. In addition, the intention rate on restricted salt consumption in the fixed cooks showing awareness of core salt control knowledge remained steadily higher than those without the awareness. Most residents, regardless of their characterizations, chose TV and popular science readings as their favorite approaches to obtain salt control knowledge.
Conclusion The initiative on population-based intervention in Shanghai has substantially improved the knowledge and behavior on salt control. Furthermore, a population-based intervention requires a multi-sector approach that would mobilize all sectors of society to perform their social responsibilities and enroll the mass media such as TV to improve residents' knowledge, attitude, and behavior.
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