Stages of Change in Dairy Intake among Older Adults: Application of the Transtheoretical Model.

Cheng-Fen Chang,Shang-Yu Yang,Ying-Lien Lin,Jiun-Yi Wang,Tien-Ho Kuo

doi:10.3390/ijerph19031146

Abstract

Adequate dairy product intake can reduce the risk of chronic disease, mortality, low quality of life, and healthcare expenditure. However, the insufficient consumption of dairy products is a serious issue in Eastern societies. To the authors’ knowledge, few studies have explored dairy intake among Taiwanese older adults, especially using the transtheoretical model. The study aims were to address the following unknowns: (i) the distribution of dairy product intake behavior on stages of change (SOC); (ii) differences in variables (intake knowledge (IK), intake cons (IC), intake pros (IP), and intake self-efficacy (ISE)) among SOCs; (iii) discriminative abilities of variables on SOCs; and (iv) predictive ability of variables (IK, IC, IP, and ISE) for dairy product intake behavior on SOC for older adults. An explorative cross-sectional study was conducted to collect data from northern Taiwan using a questionnaire. A total of 342 older adults were recruited. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance, discriminant analysis, and multiple linear regression. There was a significant difference between the variables and SOCs. There was a better discriminant among the five SOCs. Dairy product intake behaviors were significantly associated with knowledge and self-efficacy in the pre-action stage, and with cons, pros, and self-efficacy in the post-action stage. In conclusion, appropriate nutritional empowerment could benefit older adults by improving dairy intake among the different SOCs.

Highlights

The 2013–2016 National Nutrition and Health Survey [1] showed that 80–90% of the Taiwanese population ingested less than one serving of dairy products per day
After controlling the demographic variables, the results indicated that dairy product intake behavior had a significant association with IK, IC, IP, and involves progressing through following (ISE) among stages of change (SOC), except for in the maintenance stage
The present study indicated that the significant differences of IK, IC, IP, and ISE and the good discriminant among SOC would provide community and clinical settings with the methods to increase dairy product intake among all older adults

Summary

Introduction

The 2013–2016 National Nutrition and Health Survey [1] showed that 80–90% of the Taiwanese population ingested less than one serving of dairy products (e.g., milk, longlasting milk, milk powder, yogurt, and cheese) per day. This was most serious among older adults, especially those over 75 years old (93.4%) [1]. Previous research mentioned that dairy product intake might be associated with a higher risk of prostate cancer [2]. Other studies have reported that enough dairy product intake might reduce colorectal cancer by 10%, metabolic syndrome by

Results

Discussion

Conclusion