Food safety perception and nutritional habits in elderly: preliminary results of a pilot study to know the needs and promote active ageing

Laurenti, Patrizia; Waure, Chiara de; Meo, Concetta De; Raponi, Matteo; Sacchini, Darío; Bernabei, Roberto; Gravina, Ester Manes; Landi, Francesco; Sgadari, Antonio; Grassi, Claudio; Ricciardi, Walter

doi:10.1093/eurpub/cku165.117

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“…An anonymous questionnaire, based on the result of a literature scoping review, was developed by the Section of Hygiene, Institute of Public Health of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, to investigate demographic characteristics, socio-economic factors, and knowledge, behaviours, perceptions, practices and personal awareness in the matter of food safety and healthy diet. This questionnaire was previously tested in a pilot study on thirty participants, resulting in some minor modifications (23) . The final questionnaire was made up of forty-five items divided into four sections.…”

Section: Questionnairementioning

confidence: 99%

Factors affecting safe and healthy diet in older adults in Italy: results of a preliminary study performed in a community-dwelling sample

Laurenti

Meo

Sacchini

et al. 2019

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective:To investigate, through a questionnaire, older adults’ demographic and socio-economic characteristics, knowledge, attitudes and practices in terms of food safety and healthy diet; and to develop dietary and hygiene indices able to represent participants’ nutritional and food safety behaviour, exploring their association with demographic and socio-economic factors.Design:One-year cross-sectional study.Setting:Gemelli Teaching Hospital (Rome, Italy).Participants:People aged ≥65 years, Italian speaking, accessing the Centre of Ageing Medicine.Results:Mean age of the sample was 74 (sd 7·7) years. Subjective perception of a safe diet was high: 64·2 % of respondents believed they have a balanced diet. Interviewees got informed about proper nutrition mainly from television, magazines, newspapers, Internet (29·9 %) and from health professionals (34·8 %) such as dietitians, whereas 15·4 % from general practitioners. Regarding food safety, 33·8 % of participants reported to consume expired food, even more than once per month; between 80 and 90 % of participants reported to follow food safety practices during preparation and cooking, even though 49·3 % defrosted food at room temperature. Calculated dietary and hygiene indices showed that the elderly participants were far from having optimal nutritional and food safety behaviours.Conclusions:These results suggest it is necessary to increase the awareness of older adults in the matter of healthy diet and food safety. Specific and targeted educational interventions for the elderly and their caregivers could improve the adoption of recommended food safety practices and safe nutritional behaviours among older adults.

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Section: Questionnairementioning

confidence: 99%