Older peoples diet-related beliefs and behaviours: Intervention implications
Nutrition & Dietetics, 06/29/2012
Pettigrew S et al. – While further research is required to support these qualitative findings, it appears that diet–related information may be more readily accepted by mature adults if it is presented as preventing future deterioration rather than improving current health states.
Methods- An inductive, qualitative approach was used to generate information relating to mature adults' diet–related beliefs and behaviours.
- Twenty individual interviews and 12 focus groups were conducted with 111 Western Australians aged 40+ years.
- Data were collected from individuals residing in metropolitan and regional areas.
- Data coding and analysis were conducted with the use of NVivo7 software (QSR International, Doncaster, Victoria, Australia).
- The consistent findings across age groups and geographical locations suggest that mature adults may not be aware of the implications of ageing on changing dietary needs, and in particular they may lack general knowledge of current guidelines for specific nutrients such as salt and alcohol. Information relating to appropriate serving sizes of different foods may also be useful for members of this segment.



