An exploratory investigation of elders' views on diet, nutrition and cancer prevention

The goal of this exploratory investigation was to describe views related to diet and cancer prevention among the residents of a southwestern retirement community. Ethnographic interviews were conducted with twelve residents, providing over 500 data bits for this investigation. Several categories representative of the elders' views related to diet and cancer prevention were identified using content analysis. These included Determinants of food choices, Vigilance and diet and Expectations related to diet and cancer prevention. Two cultural themes illustrated the semantic relationships among the categories: "It's not easy to change your diet, especially when you are all alone," and "Eating right helps you resist disease but it is just too late for us." As diet becomes a primary means of reducing one's risk for certain types of cancer, the informed expertise of nutrition educators and health practitioners is needed to assist the public in adopting dietary guidelines. Qualitative data, as presented here, will be useful in developing effective education materials to meet this need.