TY - JOUR
T1 - Eating Strategies. An analysis of how frail, home-dwelling older people in Denmark develop strategies to form meaningful eating situations
AU - Jensen, Tenna
AU - Grønnow, Liv Cæcilie
AU - Jespersen, Astrid Pernille
PY - 2019/3/1
Y1 - 2019/3/1
N2 - This article analyses the strategies that frail, home-dwelling older people who receive food from public institutions develop and use during eating situations, to gain an insight into how older people mobilise resources in relation to eating. The analysis is based on semi-structured interviews and participant observation sessions with 25 home-dwelling frail older men and women, aged 72-101, who live in Copenhagen and receive food from the municipality. Like healthier older people, frail older Danes develop and use strategies to create acceptable eating situations. The strategies are linked to the arrangement of the eating situation, their former lives and experience with food and eating, and their perception of their own body. The focus on strategies enables insights into how frail older people manage to mobilise resources to create meaningful eating situations. However, even though they mobilise resources to create and maintain eating strategies, these are not all equally appropriate with regards to supporting a healthy nutritional status. The eating strategies used by frail older people and the resources they entail are key to their experience with eating. Focusing on these strategies is useful when developing public care initiatives as this will precipitate an awareness of the resources of this group and how these are activated and contribute to or detract from a healthy nutritional status and a high quality of life.
AB - This article analyses the strategies that frail, home-dwelling older people who receive food from public institutions develop and use during eating situations, to gain an insight into how older people mobilise resources in relation to eating. The analysis is based on semi-structured interviews and participant observation sessions with 25 home-dwelling frail older men and women, aged 72-101, who live in Copenhagen and receive food from the municipality. Like healthier older people, frail older Danes develop and use strategies to create acceptable eating situations. The strategies are linked to the arrangement of the eating situation, their former lives and experience with food and eating, and their perception of their own body. The focus on strategies enables insights into how frail older people manage to mobilise resources to create meaningful eating situations. However, even though they mobilise resources to create and maintain eating strategies, these are not all equally appropriate with regards to supporting a healthy nutritional status. The eating strategies used by frail older people and the resources they entail are key to their experience with eating. Focusing on these strategies is useful when developing public care initiatives as this will precipitate an awareness of the resources of this group and how these are activated and contribute to or detract from a healthy nutritional status and a high quality of life.
U2 - 10.1017/s0144686x17001076
DO - 10.1017/s0144686x17001076
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0144-686X
VL - 39
SP - 590
EP - 608
JO - Ageing & Society
JF - Ageing & Society
ER -