A phenomenological exploration of change towards healthier food purchasing behaviour in women from a lower socioeconomic background using a health app.

Food purchasing is dominated by routines and habits that may hamper the use of reflective decision-making and impede change. Disrupting existing behavioural patterns may address this challenge. Individuals from a lower socioeconomic background are more likely to report unhealthier purchasing and targeted initiatives are required. Health apps offer a potential approach although little evidence is available for this specific context. This research examines the individual's experience of changing food purchasing behaviour using an app focusing on women from a lower socioeconomic background. Multiple methods across different time-points explored the individual's experience over an 8-11 week period. An accompanied shop, incorporating think-aloud and researcher observations, was undertaken at baseline, followed by an in-depth interview and questionnaire. A reflective account of the individual's experience was recorded at four weeks and grocery receipts were shared for the duration. At follow-up, an accompanied shop, in-depth interview, and questionnaire were again used. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The app appeared to disrupt existing behaviour by encouraging a more conscious approach to food purchasing. Self-monitoring, problem solving, and behavioural prompts were expressed as the most effective techniques. Due to the retail environment, self-control was necessary to create and maintain healthier behaviour. Individual higher-order goals appeared to influence behaviour change and the extent to which reflective cognition was employed. The role of retailers in directing behaviour was acknowledged but it appeared that change was still viewed as individual responsibility. In conclusion, apps may facilitate healthier purchasing via specific behaviour change techniques but personal and environmental factors may influence the change process. A range of strategies may be necessary to support sufficient and sustained change.

Exploring the roles of motivation and cognition in label-usage using a combined eye-tracking and retrospective think aloud approach.

This study investigates the factors affecting consumers' motivation to engage with food product labelling in the new product context. Using yogurt as a case food, due to its positive association with health, enjoyment and convenience, this study uses eye-tracking experiments, a retrospective think-aloud protocol and semi-structured interviews, to bring to light the conscious and subconscious mechanisms associated with label usage, in order to explore the cognitive processes underlying usage of labels for new product offerings and situate these within the participant's personal context. Key information usage and decision-making strategies and the factors which give rise to these are identified. Findings suggest that consumer involvement is being shaped by the perceived importance of negative consequences (i.e. risk importance) and is further reflected in the label usage strategies identified, which align to the negotiability and specificity of health-related goals. Integration of eye-tracking, retrospective think-aloud and interview data reveal that although labelling cues promoted non-volitional attention through design features, in the absence of 'personal motivational relevance', information attended to was discounted from the evaluation process, confirming the importance of needs-based information provision.

The creation of a healthy eating motivation score and its association with food choice and physical activity in a cross sectional sample of Irish adults.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to develop a healthy eating motivation score and to determine if dietary, lifestyle and activity behaviours vary across levels of motivation to eat a healthy diet with a view to informing health promotion interventions. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of food intake, physical activity, lifestyles and food choice attitudes was conducted in a nationally representative sample of 1262 adults in the Republic of Ireland aged 18 years and over. RESULTS: Increasing score for health motivation was significantly and positively related to healthy eating and exercise. Women, increasing age, normal BMI, regular exercise and increasing intakes of fruit and vegetables were associated with a higher odds ratio (OR) for having a high healthy eating motivation score. However, despite a high motivation score only 31% of consumers in the strong motivation group achieved the recommendations for daily fruit and vegetable consumption, while 57% achieved the fat recommendation. A higher intake of calorie dense foods from the top shelf of the food pyramid and increased time spent watching T.V. was associated with a decreased OR for positive motivation towards healthy eating. CONCLUSIONS: Healthy eating promotions directed at women and older adults should focus on supporting people's motivations to attain a healthy diet by addressing issues such as dietary self-control and self-regulation. For men and younger adults, healthy eating promotions will need to address the issues underlying their weak attitudes towards healthy eating.

Saints, sinners and non-believers: the moral space of food. A qualitative exploration of beliefs and perspectives on healthy eating of Irish adults aged 50-70.

Food choices can involve a moral element of which healthy eating has come to play a major part in recent years. This research aimed to explore the moral space of food for older adults in order to understand how they conceptualise and negotiate various moral demands in the context of their general food lives. In-depth interviews on the lived experience of food and eating were conducted with a purposive sample of 50 adults aged 50-70, who varied by dietary quality and health status. An inductive thematic analysis was carried out. Three major themes representing aspects of the "moral space of food" were identified. This moral space was influenced by old religious and secular moralities which have become intertwined with new moralities of "healthism", a trend towards encouraging personal responsibility for health. Participants sought to maintain moral congruence by keeping their behaviour within moral boundaries through balance and moderation. Some resisted immoral positioning by highlighting their own autonomy or by challenging healthist ideology. A fundamental tension exists between the concept of healthy eating as desirable to remain a moral person while simultaneously being equated with sacrifice of pleasure and enjoyment. Healthist ideology perpetuates this tension, problematising enjoyment of food and bodies of those outside of the "norm". Attempting to address negative moralistic undertones of healthy eating messages may help to engage public interest in nutrition.

Complexity and conundrums. Citizens' evaluations of potentially contentious novel food technologies using a deliberative discourse approach.

This research considers the processes involved in the formation of attitudes by citizens on potentially contentious novel food technologies (NFTs). Observations of one-to-one deliberative discourses between food scientists and citizens, during which they discussed these technologies, form the basis of this enquiry. This approach enables an exploration of how individuals construct meaning around as well as interpret information about the technologies. Thematic analysis identifies key features that provide the frameworks for citizens' evaluations. How individuals make sense of these technologies is shaped by their beliefs, values and personal characteristics; their perceptions of power and control over the development and sale of NFT related products; and, the extent to which these products are relevant to their personal lives. Internal negotiations between these influences are evident, and evaluations are based on the relative importance of each influence to the individual. Internal conflicts and tensions are associated with citizens' evolving evaluative processes, which may in turn present as attitude ambivalence and instability. Many challenges are linked with engaging with the general public about these technologies, as levels of knowledge, understanding and interest vary.

"Eat like a man". A social constructionist analysis of the role of food in men's lives.

This paper adopts a social constructionist approach to investigate the role of food in the production of identities and social experiences for men. With recognition that relational and experiential processes are central to men's lives, the purpose of the paper is to inductively explore the personal and interpersonal complexities of this group's food related behaviours. Empirical data were collected through a series of semi-structured interviews with 33 men, comprising of 4 age groups, (18-35, 36-54, 55-64, and 65+ years). Regardless of age, an analysis and interpretation yielded three emergent themes, food as a component of: (1) role-play; (2) contextual interactions, (3) and the management of a functional vs. hedonic dialectic. Across these themes various tensions and contradictions emerged suggesting a complex reflexivity to male food life experiences. Relational issues emerged such as the observation that some men concede control to their partners throughout their food experiences. Overall, our men's consumption practices construct a specific socio-cultural articulation of masculine roles whereby their internal paradoxes are leveraged as a means to produce desirable experiences and self-identifications.

Making Them Commit: Strategies to Influence Phenotypic Differentiation in Mesenchymal Stem Cells.

Tendon injuries, bone defects, and cartilage defects are complex clinical conditions leading to pain and dysfunctions. Tendon, bone, and cartilage are highly specialized and organized tissues, and the self-healing may be limited by their histologic features, or impaired by the local conditions. Furthermore, the resultant tissue often shows inferior properties compared with native tissue, leading to high rates of reruptures and revision surgeries. A growing field of research has explored tendon, bone, and cartilage regeneration using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), because of their multipotency, and because they are relatively easy to harvest. Great expectations arose from the use of MSCs in regenerative medicine in the last decade, although both the potential and the drawbacks of this method remain under reflection. This is a narrative review of the literature about different strategies to differentiate MSCs into tenocytes, osteoblasts, and chondrocytes. Challenges and limitations on the use of MSCs in vivo and in clinical practice are also discussed.

Tendon and bone responses to a collagen-coated suture material.

Tendon to bone integration after rotator cuff repair is not a reproducible process. During repair, bioabsorbable and nonabsorbable suture material is universally used to facilitate the procedure. Improving the biological architecture of inert suture might aid in overall tendon to bone healing. The objective of our study is to enhance the bone to tendon union by absorbing type I collagen onto high strength nonabsorbable polyester/polyethylene suture commonly used in rotator cuff surgery. Our purpose was to evaluate the tendon and bone cellular response to this novel coated suture compared to uncoated suture. Primary human osteoblasts (HOBs) and tenocytes were plated onto polyester/polyethylene suture that was either uncoated or coated with type I bovine collagen. Cell adhesion to the sutures was assayed at 24 hours. Proliferation was determined at 48 hours by measuring [3H]- Thymidine incorporation in cells attached to the sutures. At 24 and 48 hours, respectively, cells grown on the collagen-coated suture showed a significantly greater response measured by adhesion and proliferation than cells grown on uncoated suture. At five days of culture, alkaline phosphatase activity and protein synthesis was significantly greater on the collagen-coated suture compared to uncoated. Collagen-coated polyester/polyethylene suture appears to stimulate adhesion, proliferation alkaline phosphatase, and protein synthesis more than uncoated sutures, and therefore may aid in the tendon to bone incorporation process critical to rotator cuff repair.