Seron Primary Care Center, Northern Almería Integrated Healthcare Area, 04600 Almeria, Spain.
Department of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Medicine, University of Almería, La Cañada, 04120 Almeria, Spain.
Nutrients. 2024 Aug 11;16(16):2655. doi: 10.3390/nu16162655.
(1) Background: Currently, numerous qualitative research studies on food and its influence on health are being conducted. In qualitative research, data are obtained by analyzing participants' responses. However, silence during conversation has been little studied. The aim of this study was to interpret the silences in the narratives of elderly people living alone about the potential risks of not keeping a healthy diet. (2) Methods: This is a descriptive and interpretative observational study under the qualitative research paradigm following a phenomenological and ethnographic perspective. The study was developed in two phases with people over 65 years old. In the first phase, from June 2021 to January 2022, 90 interviews, 12 life history analyses, 58 food diaries and 51 (cultural domain technique) were conducted. In the second phase, from March to June 2022, 3 participatory workshops and 24 (cultural domain technique) were conducted, as well as 3 focus groups. Only data from participants over 65 years old living alone are analyzed in this paper. The ATLAS-ti (Version 22) qualitative analysis software was used for coding and data analysis. (3) Results: The results show that elderly people living alone would sometimes remain silent during the various conversations conducted within the research. This silence reflects their desire to downplay the risks to their health from not eating well due to their unwanted loneliness. The people participating in our research had chronic health problems, financial insecurity and emotional problems. (4) Conclusions: We concluded that elderly people living alone are unable to maintain a healthy diet because they downplay their risk of malnutrition. This mindset is caused by their loneliness and bolstered by a situation of learned helplessness and social injustice.
(1) 背景：目前，正在进行大量关于食物及其对健康影响的定性研究。在定性研究中，通过分析参与者的反应来获取数据。然而，对话中的沉默现象研究较少。本研究旨在解释独居老年人关于保持健康饮食潜在风险的叙述中的沉默。 (2) 方法：这是一项描述性和解释性观察研究，属于定性研究范式，遵循现象学和民族志的观点。该研究分两个阶段进行，对象为 65 岁以上的老年人。在第一阶段（2021 年 6 月至 2022 年 1 月），共进行了 90 次访谈、12 次生活史分析、58 份饮食日记和 51 份（文化领域技术）。在第二阶段（2022 年 3 月至 6 月），共进行了 3 次参与式研讨会和 24 次（文化领域技术）以及 3 次焦点小组。本研究仅分析了独居且年龄超过 65 岁的参与者的数据。使用 ATLAS-ti（版本 22）定性分析软件进行编码和数据分析。 (3) 结果：结果表明，独居老年人在研究中进行的各种对话中有时会保持沉默。这种沉默反映了他们由于孤独而不想强调因饮食不佳而对健康造成的风险。参与我们研究的人患有慢性健康问题、经济不安全和情绪问题。 (4) 结论：我们得出结论，独居老年人无法保持健康的饮食，因为他们低估了营养不良的风险。这种心态是由他们的孤独感以及习得性无助和社会不公正的情况所助长的。
