Abstract
Purpose/Objective: Nutrition knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors have important implications for managing and preventing chronic and injury-related secondary conditions in persons with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D). Yet, the unique dietary and nutritional needs and recommendations specific to individuals with SCI/D and their eating beliefs and behaviors have been understudied. Aim is to describe nutrition and eating beliefs and behaviors from the perspectives of individuals with SCI/D. Research Method/Design: Descriptive qualitative design using in-depth semistructured interviews with a national sample of veterans with SCI/D (n= 33). Audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim transcripts were coded and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Participants were male (61%), aged 29–84 years, and 55% had tetraplegia. Five key themes were identified: extreme fasting/caloric restriction, perceived healthy eating behaviors, perceived unhealthy eating behaviors, modified eating behaviors due to SCI/D-related symptoms, and food/preparation choices based on abilities/independence and access. Conclusions/Implications: Nutrition among veterans with SCI/D may be impacted by many factors, such as nutrition knowledge and beliefs/behaviors about “healthy” and “unhealthy” nutrition, fasting, caloric restriction, imbalanced intake of macro- and micronutrients, overconsumption relative to energy needs, injury-related secondary complications, postinjury body composition and function changes, impairments related to satiety and hunger signals, and difficulty in obtaining and preparing food. Study findings provide many areas that would benefit from intervention. Findings can be used to inform ideal nutrition and healthy eating beliefs and behaviors which are important because nutritional inadequacies can lead to diet-related diseases, may exacerbate SCI secondary conditions, and lead to poor overall health.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Journal | Rehabilitation Psychology |
| DOIs | |
| State | Accepted/In press - 2024 |
Funding
This study was supported by Merit Review Award number IIR 17-047 (Eisenberg) and Research Career Scientist Award number RCS14-232 (Harris) from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Health Services Research, and Development Service. The authors thank the Veterans who participated in this study. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the U.S. government. The authors report that there are no competing interests or conflicts of interest to disclose. This study was not preregistered. Upon reasonable request and approval of the institution’s human subject and ethics committee, deidentified data may be available by contacting the principal investigator (PI). Upon reasonable request and approval of the institution’s human subject and ethics committee, deidentified data may be available by contacting the senior author (study PI).
Keywords
- eating behaviors
- eating beliefs
- nutrition
- qualitative research
- spinal cord injury
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
- Rehabilitation
- Clinical Psychology
- Psychiatry and Mental health
