Exploring the Experience and Determinants of the Food Choices and Eating Practices of Elderly Thai People: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Over the past decade, Thailand has experienced a rapid increase in its elderly population. Many unfavorable health outcomes among elderly people are associated with nutrition. Nutrition in elderly people is affected by physical, mental, and social factors. This study explored the food choices and dietary practices among community-dwelling elderly people in Thailand from the perspective of both caregivers and the elderly people themselves. Six focus group discussions and six semistructured interviews were conducted in the Samut Sakhon Province of Thailand. Deductive thematic analyses were conducted based on the “food choice process model framework.” The results show that physical and mental factors and societal factors are important determinants of food choices. Moreover, a changing food environment and economic factors were found to affect food choices. Issues of trust in food safety and food markets were highlighted as growing issues. Therefore, fostering healthy food choice interventions that consider both environmental and societal aspects is necessary.

A Theoretical Framework on the Determinants of Food Purchasing Behavior of the Elderly: A Bibliometric Review with Scientific Mapping in Web of Science

“…The sample consisted of a total of 123 documents [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 10 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 ,…”

“…The sixth cluster stood out for including the different ways of understanding consumption orientation according to the age groups found in the elderly [ 75 , 95 , 97 , 123 ], as well as other influential variables such as the available information [ 53 , 90 , 127 ]. The seventh grouping was very varied, it included topics aligned with the different determinants that could be found to understand the multiple patterns of consumption [ 43 , 48 , 55 , 65 , 68 , 80 , 112 , 122 , 136 ]. Finally, the last grouping included topics related to additional variables such as attitudes [ 103 , 118 ], knowledge [ 16 , 139 ], or heterogeneity [ 17 , 138 , 140 ].…”

“…The basic and cross-cutting topics were positioned in the second quadrant (Q2) and corresponded to two main topics—“Determinants” [ 48 , 55 , 65 , 68 , 80 , 112 , 122 , 136 ] and “Senior Marketing” [ 82 , 107 , 132 ]. Among the most prominent groups were those focused on the determinants of consumption and eating patterns [ 14 , 72 , 126 ], which included purchasing habits and behaviors and actions carried out in the field of marketing specifically aimed at the different segments that made up the group of elderly people.…”

Dietary Salt-Related Determinants of Hypertension in Rural Northern Thailand

“…Family supports for their hypertensive members, such as preparing foods with low sodium, encouraging them long-term lifestyle modification, monitoring their food consumption, regularly reminding them to take blood pressure medication, can also reinforce hypertension control [ 70 ]. Some elderly Thais may eat low-cost food away from home or ready-to-eat foods because of affordability, limited availability of healthy foods, and convenience [ 71 ]. Local health professionals should assess the rationale of eating food away from home and ready-to-eat foods, when providing nutritional food information.…”

Dietary practices associated with prevalence of malnutrition among the elderly in Kiambu County, Kenya

“…Malnutrition is a term used to describe a lack of balance in nutrients consumed by an individual (Chalermsri et al, 2020). Malnutrition among the elderly people often occurs due to functional and physiological changes that come with old age, inadequate access to food, and lack of financial support.…”