Centre for Policy on Ageing



Self-management of nutritional risk among older adults: a conceptual model and case studies from rural communities
Author(s)	Sara A Quandt, Thomas A Arcury, Ronny A Bell
Journal title	Journal of Aging Studies, vol 12, no 4, Winter 1998
Pages	pp 351-368
Keywords	Nutrition ; Rural areas ; United States of America.
Annotation	Older adults experience both social and physical changes that require them to make adaptations in the way they meet their nutritional needs. Failure to make such adaptations can compromise health and quality of life. However, research linking nutrition to behaviours and resources of older people is hampered by a lack of an appropriate conceptual model. Case-based analysis of transcripts of in-depth ethnographic interviews with rural older people in the southeastern United States (US) is used to develop a model of nutritional self-management, defined as the behavioural regimen that older persons use to obtain food, prepare food, and maintain food security. Behaviours used to accomplish these nutritional self-management tasks can be drawn from four domains (self-care, informal support, formal support, and medical care), and the strategy's adequacy can be evaluated by measures of nutritional status. Research applications of the model, as well as its link to the concept of adaptation are discussed. (AKM).
Accession Number	CPA-990108402 A
Classmark	CF: RL: 7T
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.