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Constraints on the food choices of women with lower educational attainment

Constraints on the food choices of women with lower educational attainment
Constraints on the food choices of women with lower educational attainment
Objective: women of lower educational attainment have less balanced and varied diets than women of higher educational attainment. The diets of women are vital to the long-term health of their offspring. The present study aimed to identify factors that influence the food choices of women with lower educational attainment and how women could be helped to improve those choices.

Design: we conducted eight focus group discussions with women of lower educational attainment to identify these factors. We contrasted the results of these discussions with those from three focus group discussions with women of higher educational attainment.

Setting: Southampton, UK.

Subjects: forty-two white Caucasian women of lower educational attainment and fourteen of higher educational attainment aged 18 to 44 years.

Results: the dominant theme in discussions with women of lower educational attainment was their sense that they lacked control over food choices for themselves and their families. Partners and children exerted a high degree of control over which foods were bought and prepared. Women’s perceptions of the cost of healthy food, the need to avoid waste, being trapped at home surrounded by opportunities to snack, and having limited skill and experience with food, all contributed to their sense they lacked control over their own and their family’s food choices.

Conclusions: an intervention to improve the food choices of women with lower educational attainment needs to increase their sense of control over their diet and the foods they buy. This might include increasing their skills in food preparation
food choice, health benefits, education, focus groups, uk
1368-9800
1229-1237
Barker, M.
374310ad-d308-44af-b6da-515bf5d2d6d2
Lawrence, W.T.
e9babc0a-02c9-41df-a289-7b18f17bf7d8
Skinner, T.C.
266ca58c-9a2e-4bc3-97b2-e9dc905b03ab
Haslam, C.O.
02ca3632-b4b7-49fb-9522-471b63724c84
Robinson, S.M.
ba591c98-4380-456a-be8a-c452f992b69b
Inskip, H.M.
5fb4470a-9379-49b2-a533-9da8e61058b7
Margetts, B.M.
d415f4a1-d572-4ebc-be25-f54886cb4788
Jackson, A.A.
c9a12d7c-b4d6-4c92-820e-890a688379ef
Barker, D.J.P.
64c6005a-eea7-4c26-8f07-50d875998512
Cooper, C.
e05f5612-b493-4273-9b71-9e0ce32bdad6
Food Choice Group, University of Southampton
Barker, M.
374310ad-d308-44af-b6da-515bf5d2d6d2
Lawrence, W.T.
e9babc0a-02c9-41df-a289-7b18f17bf7d8
Skinner, T.C.
266ca58c-9a2e-4bc3-97b2-e9dc905b03ab
Haslam, C.O.
02ca3632-b4b7-49fb-9522-471b63724c84
Robinson, S.M.
ba591c98-4380-456a-be8a-c452f992b69b
Inskip, H.M.
5fb4470a-9379-49b2-a533-9da8e61058b7
Margetts, B.M.
d415f4a1-d572-4ebc-be25-f54886cb4788
Jackson, A.A.
c9a12d7c-b4d6-4c92-820e-890a688379ef
Barker, D.J.P.
64c6005a-eea7-4c26-8f07-50d875998512
Cooper, C.
e05f5612-b493-4273-9b71-9e0ce32bdad6

Barker, M., Lawrence, W.T., Skinner, T.C., Haslam, C.O., Robinson, S.M., Inskip, H.M., Margetts, B.M., Jackson, A.A., Barker, D.J.P. and Cooper, C. , Food Choice Group, University of Southampton (2008) Constraints on the food choices of women with lower educational attainment. Public Health Nutrition, 11 (12), 1229-1237. (doi:10.1017/S136898000800178X). (PMID:18298884)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Objective: women of lower educational attainment have less balanced and varied diets than women of higher educational attainment. The diets of women are vital to the long-term health of their offspring. The present study aimed to identify factors that influence the food choices of women with lower educational attainment and how women could be helped to improve those choices.

Design: we conducted eight focus group discussions with women of lower educational attainment to identify these factors. We contrasted the results of these discussions with those from three focus group discussions with women of higher educational attainment.

Setting: Southampton, UK.

Subjects: forty-two white Caucasian women of lower educational attainment and fourteen of higher educational attainment aged 18 to 44 years.

Results: the dominant theme in discussions with women of lower educational attainment was their sense that they lacked control over food choices for themselves and their families. Partners and children exerted a high degree of control over which foods were bought and prepared. Women’s perceptions of the cost of healthy food, the need to avoid waste, being trapped at home surrounded by opportunities to snack, and having limited skill and experience with food, all contributed to their sense they lacked control over their own and their family’s food choices.

Conclusions: an intervention to improve the food choices of women with lower educational attainment needs to increase their sense of control over their diet and the foods they buy. This might include increasing their skills in food preparation

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More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 26 February 2008
Published date: December 2008
Keywords: food choice, health benefits, education, focus groups, uk

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 185835
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/185835
ISSN: 1368-9800
PURE UUID: 33cee78e-69d4-4dfa-a521-7de5aa653eb9
ORCID for M. Barker: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2976-0217
ORCID for W.T. Lawrence: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1264-0438
ORCID for S.M. Robinson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1766-7269
ORCID for H.M. Inskip: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8897-1749
ORCID for C. Cooper: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3510-0709

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Date deposited: 11 May 2011 10:31
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 02:54

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Contributors

Author: M. Barker ORCID iD
Author: W.T. Lawrence ORCID iD
Author: T.C. Skinner
Author: C.O. Haslam
Author: S.M. Robinson ORCID iD
Author: H.M. Inskip ORCID iD
Author: B.M. Margetts
Author: A.A. Jackson
Author: D.J.P. Barker
Author: C. Cooper ORCID iD
Corporate Author: Food Choice Group, University of Southampton

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