Management of healthy eating in everyday life among senior Europeans.

The aim of the present study is to explore how older people reflect on, make sense of and express their views about healthy eating messages and how they narrate these responses in relation to managing their diets along with strategies adopted in terms of existing food and meal patterns. This qualitative study draws on data from 564 in depth interviews collected as part of the European Union (EU)-funded project Food in Later life - Choosing foods, eating meals: sustaining independency and quality of life in old age. The two major areas studied related to the connection between food and health and management of a healthy everyday life. Eating healthy was regarded as an investment to ensure independence was kept as the transition of old age approached, but old age could also be a reason for not bothering about it. Participants described different ways that they simplified and organized in order to manage "healthy eating". When trying to support senior Europeans, those working in health and community services should take into account the situational context of the older person and be aware of the variation in their conceptualization of "healthy eating".

Factors influencing eating a varied diet in old age.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influences of resources and food-related goals on the variety of food choice among older people. DESIGN: A questionnaire-based survey in eight European countries: Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Italy and Spain. SUBJECTS: Participants (n 3200) were above 65 years of age and living in their own homes. The samples were quota samples, eight groups of fifty in each country, based on gender, age and living circumstances, reflecting the diversity of each of the national populations based on education, income and urbanization of living environment. RESULTS: Hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that income, health status, access to a car and living arrangement affected the level of dietary variety. The perceived level of different food-related resources impacted the consumption of a varied diet over and above actual resource levels. Food-related goals contributed to variety of food intake that was not accounted for by the amount of material resources possessed or the social and other resources perceived to be possessed. CONCLUSIONS: Older people's variety of food intake depended on material resources (e.g. monthly income, access to a car, living arrangement, physical and mental health). However, in addition to these variables, the way older people perceived other resources, such as their level of appetite, their food knowledge, their perception of the distance to the shops, access to high-quality products, having better kitchen facilities, access to good service providers and support from friends and neighbours, all contributed to how varied a diet they ate.

The impact of personal resources and their goal relevance on satisfaction with food-related life among the elderly.

The study explored how actual resources, perceived levels of different types of resources and goal relevance of these resources affect older people's satisfaction with food-related life using a survey in eight European countries, where 3291 participants above 65 years of age and living in their own homes took part. Satisfaction with food-related life was measured using Satisfaction With Food-related Life (SWFL) scale developed by Grunert, Raats, Dean, Nielsen, Lumbers and The Food in Later Life Team. [(2007). A measure of satisfaction with food-related life. Appetite, 49, 486-493]. Results showed that older people rated the resources that they believed to have plentiful of as being highly relevant to achieve their goals. The individuals who rated the relevance and their level of different resources as high were also more satisfied with their food-related quality of life. Further, satisfaction with food-related life, as was expected, was predicted by income, health measures and living circumstances. However, the study also showed that perceived levels of other resources such as support of family and friends, food knowledge, storage facilities also added to the individuals' satisfaction with food-related life. In addition, the congruence between perceived level and relevance of a resource was also shown to add to people's satisfaction with food-related life, implying that older people's satisfaction with food-related life depends not only on the level of resources they think they have but also on their goals and how important they think these resources are to achieving their goals.

A measure of satisfaction with food-related life.

A measure of satisfaction with food-related life is developed and tested in three studies in eight European countries. Five items are retained from an original pool of seven; these items exhibit good reliability as measured by Cronbach's alpha, good temporal stability, convergent validity with two related measures, and construct validity as indicated by relationships with other indicators of quality of life, including the Satisfaction With Life and the SF-8 scales. It is concluded that this scale will be useful in studies trying to identify factors contributing to satisfaction with food-related life.