Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada.
Appetite. 2019 Oct 1;141:104326. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2019.104326. Epub 2019 Jun 19.
Debates regarding addictive-like eating have generated several conceptualizations of this construct. Qualitative research helps ensure that conceptualizations capture how individuals may experience addictive-like eating. In this study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with ten participants who identified themselves as addicted to food, or to food and eating, to determine how they conceptualized their addictive-like eating. Using thematic analysis, we identified four themes: (1) Social Environment, describing how past and present social environments affected addictive-like eating; (2) Situational Cues, encompassing situational contributions to addictive-like eating; (3) Persistent Cognitions, including preoccupation with food and loss of control; and (4) Impact of Weight, encompassing weight gain and its perceived impact on health, body image, and distress. Participants described properties specific to their preferred foods, as well as environmental and cognitive factors contributing to addictive-like eating. These descriptions were not completely captured by either the substance-based "food addiction" or behavioural "eating addiction" frameworks, though characteristics consistent with both were present. Further, existing scales of addictive-like eating do not assess the impact of social and situational cues, suggesting a need for new or revised measures. We propose a working definition of addictive-like eating that incorporates the characteristics described.
关于类似成瘾的进食行为的争论产生了这一概念的几种概念化。定性研究有助于确保概念化能够捕捉到个体可能经历的类似成瘾的进食行为。在这项研究中，我们对 10 名自认为对食物或食物和进食成瘾的参与者进行了半结构化访谈，以确定他们如何概念化自己的类似成瘾的进食行为。使用主题分析，我们确定了四个主题：（1）社会环境，描述过去和现在的社会环境如何影响类似成瘾的进食行为；（2）情境线索，包括对类似成瘾的进食行为的情境贡献；（3）持续的认知，包括对食物的关注和失去控制；（4）体重的影响，包括体重增加及其对健康、身体形象和痛苦的感知影响。参与者描述了他们喜欢的食物的特定属性，以及导致类似成瘾的进食的环境和认知因素。这些描述不能完全被基于物质的“食物成瘾”或行为的“进食成瘾”框架所捕捉，但存在与两者都一致的特征。此外，现有的类似成瘾的进食行为量表没有评估社会和情境线索的影响，这表明需要新的或修订的测量工具。我们提出了一个类似成瘾的进食行为的工作定义，其中包含了所描述的特征。
