Search

Individuals who experience social isolation or loneliness report poorer psychological wellbeing and increased mortality than those who are socially connected. Older culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) immigrants are a subgroup at greater risk of experiencing social isolation and loneliness. Many ethnic-focussed organizations in South Australia (SA) facilitate regular shared lunches, or "lunch clubs," to support older CALD immigrants. This study sought to understand the experiences of attending these lunch clubs, and the extent to which they influence perceived health and wellbeing of attendees. Four focus groups (n = 19) were held with individuals who regularly attended one of four cultural lunch clubs (Greek, Ukrainian, Chinese, Italian) in SA. Focus groups were conducted in English and participant's native language, with the assistance of accredited interpreters. Focus group transcripts were analyzed following a descriptive qualitative approach. Three themes were identified: A rare opportunity for social interaction, maintaining ties to culture in a foreign country, and fostering health and wellbeing. This study offers insight into lunch clubs as a potential intervention to reduce experiences of social isolation and loneliness in vulnerable populations. Future research is needed to measure the impact on health and wellbeing, and to model the most effective modes of delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated a food system literacy intervention, through participants' engagement in sustainable eating behaviors, and their perspectives on the intervention. The qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with nine University staff and students which were then thematically analyzed. Sustainable eating behavior, engagement in education and experiences of the course were influenced by the individual's stage of change in relation to the Transtheoretical Model (TTM). Most participants were in the post-contemplation stages of change prior to joining the intervention and were consequently, already engaged in sustainable eating. They valued the intervention and indicated that it affirmed their existing beliefs and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the relationship between food choices and morality by exploring how Australian adults conceptualise and negotiate their sugar intake. Fifteen in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with English speaking adults residing in South Australia. Participants were purposively sampled from a national survey based on their sugar consumption levels, age and gender. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Participants initially defined sugars as good or bad based on source, colour, texture, taste and impact of sugar on health. On being provided with evidence on amounts of sugar present in commonly consumed foods and drinks, participants redefined their perceptions to consider all sugars as bad sugars. This created moral challenges for the participants leading to two types of justifications for their own sugar consumption. One group of justifications drew on socially evaluative statements that participants used to present themselves as morally virtuous. Here sugar was considered as an essential source of energy and part of a balanced diet; limited to infrequent occasions such as celebrations, social gatherings and cultural practices; and as a cultural obligation. The second group of justifications located the source of morality within the individual and presented sugar intake as important for emotional and psychological wellbeing, and also as something that could be controlled by taking responsibility. There were no differences in discourses between low and high sugar consumers. This study provides new insights on how Australians conceptualise sugar in diet and make consumption decisions, which are important for influencing sugar consumption at a societal level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is part of a broader interdisciplinary project investigating the historical, social, and cultural contexts behind individual and collective differences in taste and consumption. It offers a comparative historical study of nonalcoholic beverage (NAB) consumption in Australia and Japan. Australia and Japan are among the largest NAB consumers in the world, and they have a similar history of progression from brewed tea as the main beverage consumed at meals and between meals, to a widespread consumption of bottled beverages. Yet in the contemporary context, both consumer behavior and its impact on nutrition health differ significantly in the two countries. We compare the Australian case, where "soft drinks" are equated with sugar-sweetened beverages, seen as contributing to the global rise in obesity, with thecase of Japan, where sugar-sweetened sodas are widely available, but people also consume large amounts of cold bottled green teas and herbal teas, that are not just "sugarless" but are not sweet at all. We propose that comparing the NAB consumption cultures of Japan and Australia offers us valuable insight into the importance of the cultural dimension of consumption and nutrition health, and the need to consider it when formulating policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of the ‘obesity epidemic’ public health has largely failed to engage with the human pleasures that surround eating. Pleasures are often linked to vulnerabilities and frailties that are part of being human. We argue in this paper that leaving human vulnerabilities and the pleasures that haunt them under-acknowledged and under-examined within public health contributes to the problems that public health tries to solve. While in some quarters debates revolve around the best ways of encouraging people to become responsible for and modify their own behaviour, the well-documented centuries of struggle with managing human vulnerabilities and pleasures helps to explain why this is no easy task. The mantra of restraint, reason, and rationality is very limited in the face of the importance of some pleasures, even small ones, in human lives. In unequal societies, people have unequal access to pleasures. People are presented with a landscape of temptation, encouraged to consume, and then unequally admonished for indulging according to their means. Understanding and democratising pleasures will involve public health grappling with pleasures, and all those concerned with health inequity asking hard questions about ethics, morality, and intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores why some Greek immigrants to Australia continue to adhere to a traditional Mediterranean diet whereas others have adopted eating behaviors characteristic of a less healthy “Australian” diet. Twelve qualitative interviews were conducted and comparisons made between individuals consuming more (n = 6) and less traditional diets (n = 6). The level of adherence to the diet was previously assessed by a diet score in a separate quantitative study (MEDIS-Australia) from which the subset of 12 participants for the present study was recruited. Analysis revealed that maintenance of a strong ethnic identity offers a pathway through which individuals retain dietary practices of their homeland. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article we examine how and why the media construct food risks, from the perspective of ‘media actors’ (people involved in different types of media) using data from 30 interviews conducted in 2013 with media actors from Australia and the United Kingdom. In modern society, many risks are invisible and are brought to the attention of the public through representations in the mass media. This is particularly relevant for food safety, where the widening gap between producers and consumers in the developed world has increased the need for consumer trust in the food supply. We show the importance of newsworthiness in construction of media stories about food risk using Beck’s ideas on cosmopolitan risk to interpret the data. We note the ways in which the strategies that media actors use to construct stories about food risk amplify the risk posed potentially creating consumer anxiety about the safety of the food system. It is important for food regulators and public health professionals to be aware of this anxiety when presenting information about a food incident so that they can target their message accordingly to decrease anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]