- University of Surrey, Psychology, Faculty Memberadd
Research Interests:
Food, nutrition and health policy makers are poised with two pertinent issues more than any other: obesity and climate change. Consumer research has focused primarily on specific areas of sustainable food, such as organic food, local or... more
Food, nutrition and health policy makers are poised with two pertinent issues more than any other: obesity and climate change. Consumer research has focused primarily on specific areas of sustainable food, such as organic food, local or traditional food, meat substitution and/or reduction. More holistic view of sustainable healthy eating behaviour has received less attention, albeit that more research is emerging in this area. This study protocol that aims to investigate young consumers' attitudes and behaviour towards sustainable and healthy eating by applying a multidisciplinary approach, taking into account economical, marketing, public health and environmental related issues. In order to achieve this goal, consumers' reactions on interactive tailored informational messages about sustainable from social, environmental and economical point of view, as well as healthy eating behaviour in a group of young adults will be investigated using randomized controlled trial. To unde...
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The aim of this study is to explore the information needs of men with prostate cancer and their partners retrospectively at various points in the treatment process. An online questionnaire was used to collect information from men with... more
The aim of this study is to explore the information needs of men with prostate cancer and their partners retrospectively at various points in the treatment process. An online questionnaire was used to collect information from men with prostate cancer and their partners about information needs, and when these developed. Readers of a Prostate Care Cookbook and members of a Prostate Cancer Charity were invited to participate: 73 men with prostate cancer and 25 partners completed the questionnaire. Responses showed that participants develop their information needs close to diagnosis. Less educated men with prostate cancer and partners developed their needs closer to the time after diagnosis than those with higher education. Partners develop an interest on information related to treatment and interaction earlier than patients. Patients prioritised treatment and disease-specific information. Patients and partners differ in how their information needs develop. Medical information is prioritized by patients as opposed to practical information by partners. Health care provision can be tailored to meet the different needs of prostate cancer patients and their partners at different times in the treatment process.
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Colour coded front-of-pack nutrition labelling ('traffic light labelling') has been recommended for use in the UK since 2006. The voluntary scheme is used by all the major retailers and some manufacturers. It is not clear how... more
Colour coded front-of-pack nutrition labelling ('traffic light labelling') has been recommended for use in the UK since 2006. The voluntary scheme is used by all the major retailers and some manufacturers. It is not clear how consumers use these labels to make a single decision about the relative healthiness of foods. Our research questions were: Which of the four nutrients on UK traffic light labels (total fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt) has the most influence on decisions? Do green lights or red lights have a greater influence? Are there age and gender differences in how people use the colour and nutrient information? We recruited participants from a UK supermarket chain membership list to conduct an online choice experiment in May 2014. We analysed data using multilevel logisitic models with food choices (n = 3321) nested in individuals (n = 187) as the unit of analysis. A food with more reds was 11.4 (95% confidence intervals: 10.3, 12.5) times less likely to be chos...
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Domestic cooking skills (CS) and food skills (FS) encompass multiple components, yet there is a lack of consensus on their constituent parts, inter-relatedness or measurement, leading to limited empirical support for their role in... more
Domestic cooking skills (CS) and food skills (FS) encompass multiple components, yet there is a lack of consensus on their constituent parts, inter-relatedness or measurement, leading to limited empirical support for their role in influencing dietary quality. This review assessed the measurement of CS and FS in adults (>16 years); critically examining study designs, psychometric properties of measures, theoretical basis and associations of CS/FS with diet. Electronic databases (PsychInfo), published reports and systematic reviews on cooking and home food preparation interventions (Rees et al. 2012 ; Reicks et al. 2014 ) provided 834 articles of which 26 met the inclusion criteria. Multiple CS/FS measures were identified across three study designs: qualitative; cross-sectional; and dietary interventions; conducted from 1998-2013. Most measures were not theory-based, limited psychometric data was available, with little consistency of items or scales used for CS/FS measurements. Some positive associations between CS/FS and FV intake were reported; though lasting dietary changes were uncommon. The role of psycho-social (e.g., gender, attitudes) and external factors (e.g. food availability) on CS/FS is discussed. A conceptual framework of CS/FS components is presented for future measurement facilitation, which highlights the role for CS/FS on food-related behaviour and dietary quality. This will aid future dietary intervention design.
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Go to AGRIS search. Try it! Snelle bereiding van warme maaltijden in de prive-huishouding. Onderzoek naar het klaarmaken van de dagelijkse warme maaltijd mbv fornuis en magnetron. ...
Go to AGRIS search. Try it! Het snel klaarmaken van warme maaltijden. ...
ABSTRACT Purpose – In the home help service, food provision is one common welfare service that involves different professionals at different levels within a social organisation. The purpose of this paper is to examine how different... more
ABSTRACT Purpose – In the home help service, food provision is one common welfare service that involves different professionals at different levels within a social organisation. The purpose of this paper is to examine how different professionals involved in this sector view and describe their work and responsibilities. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative study was designed based on interviews with 17 professionals representing different positions in the organisation, and an inductive thematic analysis was carried out. Findings – The various professionals’ views of food provision mainly focus on the meal box and other meals seem to receive much less attention. The professionals also illuminated their respective roles within the food provision organisation by means of boundaries and split responsibilities, and expressed a view of food provision as an issue for outsourcing. The restricted manner in which food provision was viewed and described illuminates a risk of food insecurity for dependent people in home help service situations. Originality/value – The restriction of how food provision was viewed and described illuminates a risk of food insecurity for dependent people in home help service.
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Purpose–The aim of this study is to identify the methods used by providers to evaluate their food services and identify elements of their service that would benefit from adopting a benchmarking system. Design/methodology/approach–In-depth... more
Purpose–The aim of this study is to identify the methods used by providers to evaluate their food services and identify elements of their service that would benefit from adopting a benchmarking system. Design/methodology/approach–In-depth interviews were conducted with 26 food services providers and key informants in day-care settings in Surrey.
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Background Precautionary'may contain'warnings are used to indicate possible allergen contamination. Neither food safety nor foods labelling legislation address this issue. The aim of this study is to understand how peanut and nut allergic... more
Background Precautionary'may contain'warnings are used to indicate possible allergen contamination. Neither food safety nor foods labelling legislation address this issue. The aim of this study is to understand how peanut and nut allergic adults interpret'may contain'labelling and how they use this information when purchasing food. Methods Qualitative methods were used to explore both behaviour and attitudes. The behaviour and'thinking aloud'of 32 participants were recorded during their normal food shop.
This review summarises the methods and results of studies conducted worldwide on the effectiveness of food safety and food hygiene training in the commercial sector of the food industry. In particular it focuses on those studies that have... more
This review summarises the methods and results of studies conducted worldwide on the effectiveness of food safety and food hygiene training in the commercial sector of the food industry. In particular it focuses on those studies that have tried to evaluate the effectiveness of such training. Forty-six studies of food hygiene training are included which used some outcome measure to assess the effectiveness of training. The short-term nature and variety of measures used limited the majority of studies.
Cooking and eating together are socially significant activities in all societies. The social lives of many older people, in particular, are focused around food and eating but obtaining and preparing food can be difficult for them. Whilst... more
Cooking and eating together are socially significant activities in all societies. The social lives of many older people, in particular, are focused around food and eating but obtaining and preparing food can be difficult for them. Whilst many studies have shown that inadequate nutritional intakes are common in older people, few have tried to identify the barriers that these people encounter in obtaining and preparing food.
This paper describes the outcome of the workshop 'Deriving Micronutrient Recommendations: Updating Best Practices' which took place in Brussels in April 2012. The workshop was organised jointly by the European Micronutrient... more
This paper describes the outcome of the workshop 'Deriving Micronutrient Recommendations: Updating Best Practices' which took place in Brussels in April 2012. The workshop was organised jointly by the European Micronutrient Recommendations Aligned (EURRECA) Network of Excellence and the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe. The delegates included, among others, representatives from nutrient recommendation setting bodies (NRSBs) across Europe.
Abstract In a policy environment that contains structures to enable public engagement, the validity of expressions of public opinion and concern are in part legitimated through constructions of their representativeness.
Objective The involvement of consumers in the development of dietary guidelines has been promoted by national and international bodies. Yet, few best practice guidelines have been established to assist with such involvement. Design... more
Objective The involvement of consumers in the development of dietary guidelines has been promoted by national and international bodies. Yet, few best practice guidelines have been established to assist with such involvement. Design Qualitative semi-structured interviews explored stakeholders' beliefs about consumer involvement in dietary guideline development. Setting Interviews were conducted in six European countries: the Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, Serbia, Spain and the UK.
Results: The key user requirement identified from the compilation step analysed by the Use Case approach is the increased availability of and access to more detailed food composition data on a wider range of foods and nutrients.... more
Results: The key user requirement identified from the compilation step analysed by the Use Case approach is the increased availability of and access to more detailed food composition data on a wider range of foods and nutrients. Conclusions: Food composition data serve a variety of purposes, and different user groups will often have both common needs and more individual or specific needs of their data sets.
BMI differentiation and obesity incidence in relation to food patterns of Polish older people were analysed. The research included 422 people aged 65+ years. 21 food patterns were separated by the factor analysis. On the basis of the... more
BMI differentiation and obesity incidence in relation to food patterns of Polish older people were analysed. The research included 422 people aged 65+ years. 21 food patterns were separated by the factor analysis. On the basis of the self-reported body mass and height, the BMI and percentages of overweight or obese people were calculated. The increase of the BMI and overweight and obesity incidence for both sexes was unequivocally connected with eating rye.
More than 150 years ago the German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872) resumed that “we are what we eat”. He did not foresee the lively debate we are currently facing on “what it is we should eat”, let alone on the “right” quantity... more
More than 150 years ago the German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872) resumed that “we are what we eat”. He did not foresee the lively debate we are currently facing on “what it is we should eat”, let alone on the “right” quantity and “right” selection of food we should consume.
Abstract Food patterns of Polish older people were separated and described. The research included 422 people aged 65+ years, living in 5 geographical locations. Participants of the study were selected in quota sampling. Criteria for... more
Abstract Food patterns of Polish older people were separated and described. The research included 422 people aged 65+ years, living in 5 geographical locations. Participants of the study were selected in quota sampling. Criteria for recruitment included sex, age (65-74 or 75+ years) and family status (living alone or living with other people). Respondents were asked questions about consumption of 55 food products. The factor analysis allowed for separating 21 food patterns.
Background Previous epidemiological studies have investigated the relationship between individual nutrients such as vitamin D and vitamin B12 and mammographic density, a strong marker of breast cancer risk [1], with varied results. There... more
Background Previous epidemiological studies have investigated the relationship between individual nutrients such as vitamin D and vitamin B12 and mammographic density, a strong marker of breast cancer risk [1], with varied results. There has been limited research on overall dietary patterns and most studies have focused on adult dietary patterns [2]. We examine prospective data to determine whether dietary patterns from childhood to adult life affect mammographic density.
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The choice of foods by free-living individuals is an area of concern for many people involved in the production and distribution of foods. but also for those concerned with nutrition and health education. Despite a great deal of knowledge... more
The choice of foods by free-living individuals is an area of concern for many people involved in the production and distribution of foods. but also for those concerned with nutrition and health education. Despite a great deal of knowledge gained on the impacts of diet on health and on specific diseases (Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy. 1994). relatively little is known about how and why people choose the foods that make up their diets or about how to influence their choices in an effective way. Given recommendations. for example. ...
Research Interests: Nutrition and Dietetics, Evidence Based Medicine, United Nations, Vitamin D, Information Extraction, and 26 moreAdolescent, Micronutrients, Cross-Cultural Comparison, European Commission, Humans, Child, Europe, Female, Male, Infant, Standardisation, Expert Opinion, Health Professionals, Selection Criteria, European, Aged, Middle Aged, Questionnaires, Nordic countries, Tool Development, Adult, World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, Nutrition Policy, Recommended Daily Allowance, and Child preschool
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Genetic tests are currently being offered to the general public with little oversight and regulation as to which tests are allowed to be sold clinically and little control over the marketing and promotion of sales and use. This article... more
Genetic tests are currently being offered to the general public with little oversight and regulation as to which tests are allowed to be sold clinically and little control over the marketing and promotion of sales and use. This article provides discussion and data to indicate that the general public holds high opinions of genetic testing and that current media outlets for public education on genetic testing are not adequate to increase accurate knowledge of genetics. The authors argue that more regulation is needed to control and correct this problem in the United States.
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Abstract The repertory grid method and the 'item by use'appropriateness method were used to study the place milk occupies within the diet, its perceived appropriateness and... more
Abstract The repertory grid method and the 'item by use'appropriateness method were used to study the place milk occupies within the diet, its perceived appropriateness and people's beliefs concerning different types of milk. The results of both methods suggest that consumers tend to find their most used type of milk suitable for all their uses of milk. In the repertory grid study the high-fat milk users separated the milks to a greater extent on 'taste/flavour','richness', and 'wateriness' whereas the low-fat milk users separated the ...
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There not only seems to be a trend for people to underestimate the dietary risks that they face, but it appears that this underestimation may be related to the difficulties they encounter when trying to assess their own dietary intake. A... more
There not only seems to be a trend for people to underestimate the dietary risks that they face, but it appears that this underestimation may be related to the difficulties they encounter when trying to assess their own dietary intake. A study (n = 118) examining the effects of providing people with information about their own dietary fat intake on their attitudes towards dietary change and their subsequent fat consumption is described. Participants in a group receiving feedback about their fat intake did not decrease their consumption of fat more than did those in a control group. No effects on subsequent fat consumption were observed in a group who had higher than average levels of fat consumption, higher perceived fat consumption than actual fat consumption and who received feedback information about their fat consumption. The results are discussed in relation to their implications for health promotion strategies that focus on the motivational effects of providing people with information about their fat consumption.
Research Interests: Health Promotion, Health Behavior, Health Education, Risk, Risk assessment, and 17 moreEngland, Multivariate Analysis, Motivation, Patient education, Humans, Computer Assisted Instruction, Regression Analysis, Attitudes, Feedback, Questionnaires, Food habits, Risk Assessment, Nutritional Sciences, Energy Intake, Control Group, Dietary fats, and attitude to health
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Research Interests: Psychology, Nutrition, Psychometrics, Quality of life, Food, and 16 morePsychopathology, Multidisciplinary, Appetite, Humans, Older people, Europe, Female, Construct Validity, Male, Scale Development, Eating, Aged, Questionnaires, Reproducibility of Results, Satisfaction With Life, and Personal Satisfaction
Food technology & food microbiology Food Psychology Food Psychology.
The repertory grid method (short structured interviews) was used to study the place milk occupies within the total diet, its perceived appropriateness and people's beliefs concerning different types of milk... more
The repertory grid method (short structured interviews) was used to study the place milk occupies within the total diet, its perceived appropriateness and people's beliefs concerning different types of milk (" ultra‐high temperature processed”(UHT) versus “fresh” and different levels of fat content) in Finland, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (UK). Twenty subjects (10 male, 10 female, 18–74 years) were interviewed in each country. The repertory grid method lends itself well to such a cross‐country and language comparison. ...
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Abstract Klein (1997) found that participants were more influenced by information about their comparative risk standing than information about their absolute risk standing. If reliable, these findings have important implications for... more
Abstract Klein (1997) found that participants were more influenced by information about their comparative risk standing than information about their absolute risk standing. If reliable, these findings have important implications for understanding and improving risk communication. In this paper we report the findings of several unsuccessful attempts by us to replicate Klein's findings in the UK, using one of his experimental paradigms, and discuss the findings of other recent attempts to replicate his work. Findings are inconsistent from ...
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Abstract The methodological problems facing the researcher trying to classify the influences governing the selection and subsequent enjoyment of a particular food are examined. A distinction is made between foods that are selected after... more
Abstract The methodological problems facing the researcher trying to classify the influences governing the selection and subsequent enjoyment of a particular food are examined. A distinction is made between foods that are selected after detailed cognitive processing and those that are not. For the latter products, it is more likely that sensory properties, correctly measured, may well form good predictors, although the mediating effect of context of use will still be important. For all products, the pattern of methodological or confirmation of the ...
Research Interests: Psychology, Nutrition, Aging, Quality of life, Psychopathology, and 19 moreDiet, Social Support, Multidisciplinary, Appetite, Humans, Older people, Resources, Female, Male, Relevance, Scale Development, Income, Nutritional Status, Health Status, Aged, Fin, Resource, Boolean Satisfiability, and Personal Satisfaction
Research Interests: Public Health Nutrition, Aging, Diet, Transportation, Social Support, and 16 morePublic Health, Urbanization, Self Efficacy, Humans, Europe, Old Age, Female, Male, Regression Analysis, Nutritional Status, Health Status, Aged, Questionnaires, Educational Status, Choice Behavior, and Socioeconomic Factors
Abstract: In this cross-cultural, European study of 644 women and men, aged 65-98 years, food habits and foodwork were examined from a life course perspective. The study is a part of the" Food in Later... more
Abstract: In this cross-cultural, European study of 644 women and men, aged 65-98 years, food habits and foodwork were examined from a life course perspective. The study is a part of the" Food in Later Life-Choosing foods, eating meals: sustaining independence and quality of life" project, which was carried out in eight European countries using qualitative interviews for data collection. Informants in all eight countries reported experiences of a time when access to food was limited and when foodwork in the household context was ...
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Research Interests: Psychology, Ethics, Health Behavior, Nutrition, Methodology, and 19 moreTheory of Planned Behaviour, Psychopathology, Agriculture, Theory of Planned Behavior, Comparative Study, Multidisciplinary, England, Italy, Finland, Affect, Organic Food, Appetite, Humans, Belief, Questionnaires, Food Preferences, Health Food, Food Choice, and Choice Behavior
Purpose–The aim of this study is to investigate older people's perceptions, across eight European countries (the UK, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Italy), towards functional foods.... more
Purpose–The aim of this study is to investigate older people's perceptions, across eight European countries (the UK, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Italy), towards functional foods. Design/methodology/approach–The repertory grid method was used to elicit reasons underlying preferences of five yoghurts with different functional properties and two conventional ones.
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Online surveys of patients with prostate cancer and English general practitioners underestimate patient's' need for information in relation to their condition and long term management, especially inrelation to mental health, sexual... more
Online surveys of patients with prostate cancer and English general practitioners underestimate patient's' need for information in relation to their condition and long term management, especially inrelation to mental health, sexual function and diet.