Older women and dietary advice: occurrence, comprehension and compliance

When a person becomes ill, traditional food habits may come into conflict with the disease-related recommended diet.

The aim was to study perceptions of receiving dietary advice, the occurrence and comprehension of such advice and compliance among older women diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, stroke or rheumatoid arthritis.

The study took an ethnographic approach. Fifty-four community-dwelling women, 64-88 years of age, were interviewed using an open-ended interview technique during visits to their homes.

Two themes were found: 'dietary advice - occurrence and comprehension' describes whether the women had received dietary advice and, if so, how they understood the information. In the theme 'compliance with dietary advice', two principal reasons for complying or not complying with advice were found: First, women expressed a 'food interest', such that they were either 'interested in disease-related diet' or held a general view of the significance of foods and complied with the advice for their own 'health interest'. Secondly, the women were 'uninterested in food changes'. This could be because of 'poor appetite', 'food and disease ambivalence', 'habitual and preferred foods'.

Dietary advice should be based on women's food preferences and habitual foods. It is important to inform about known relations between food and disease, but also to support eating favourite foods, thereby facilitating women's well-being.