Food Choice Processes of Older Adults: A Qualitative Investigation

One way to promote optimal nutrition for older adults is to expand nutrition professionals’ understanding of the cognitive food choice processes of the elderly. This investigation used a constructivist approach and qualitative methods to elicit the factors important to the food choices of individuals aged 65 years and older who lived independently. Using a multiple-perspective model of the food choice process as a conceptual framework, two semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with each of 16 individuals to learn about how they chose foods. Interview transcripts were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Life course events and experiences were very important factors affecting food choices. Participants’ food choices and preferences were strongly influenced by beliefs related to appropriate food behavior and expected characteristics of foods and meals, many of which had been formed during childhood. Social structure played an important role in the participants’ food choices, and much of this structure was built around food. The values most often negotiated when making food choices were social context, sensory perceptions, monetary considerations, convenience, and physical well-being. Participants managed frequently encountered food choice situations with strategies and repertoires that included routinization, substitution, limitation, and elimination/avoidance. Based on the data, a multiple-perspective model of the food choice process pertaining to the food choices of older adults is proposed.