Different Views: Change in Food Practices for Facilitators and Elderly People taking part in Actions Aiming at Preventing Malnutrition
Différents points de vue : changements dans les pratiques alimentaires pour les intervenants et les personnes âgées prenant part à des actions visant à prévenir la dénutrition
Résumé
As society is aging, malnutrition and loss of autonomy in the elderly have raised as public health issues. Official prevention recommendations detail food practices to be adopted (eating enough food incl. proteins). The Public Health perspective takes, with some nuances, target groups as composed of rational individuals, able to get motivated to adapt their behaviors when and if they are informed on risks and benefits (Poulain, 2009 ; Raude, 2013). This research adopts a praxeological approach, which claims that food practices are embedded in routines, activated by the social context and so that the room for decision-taking is quite limited (Poulain, 2002 ; Warde, 2016). Besides, change in food social representations has been identified as a lever of change in practices (Lewin, 1943; Lahlou, 2005). Do the strategies used during prevention actions targeted at elderly people take into account their food representations and practices? What social determinants of the participants are salient when they talk about change in their food practices? To answer these questions, we adopt a comprehensive approach, by observing prevention actions, then interviewing the participants and the facilitators following the action.