Eating Behaviors in Homebound Older Adults

描述（由申请人提供）：本指导研究的目的 科学家发展奖（K 01）是为候选人提供一个新的 医学社会学家，受过额外培训和研究 经验，这将使她能够追求一个学术生涯的老龄化与 关注居家老年人的饮食行为。为了充分 了解和调查影响饮食行为的许多因素 和健康成果，并设计适当的干预措施， 营养状况在体弱，居家老年人，候选人将需要 获得专业知识和技能。她建议职业发展 计划，包括课程，培训和研究经验， 高级教师和外部导师的指导/咨询团队， 在营养、公共卫生和高级统计学领域的专业知识。 该研究计划包括一个试点研究采用纵向设计 数据收集的连续波。研究的第一个目标是 检查老年居家者饮食行为的维持或改变， 正在经历急性疾病或慢性疾病的成年人， 以及与维持或改变这些饮食相关的因素 行为。研究的第二个目标是考察直接和中介 这些饮食行为对营养相关患者健康的影响 结果。本研究主要探讨体弱多病者的自我照顾饮食行为 因急性或慢性健康状况而不能回家的老年人， 这些行为随时间的稳定性和变化，以及这些行为的影响， 饮食行为对健康的影响这项研究将提供信息， 可用于制定干预措施和设计所需的初步数据 一项更大规模的临床干预试验，以测试这些药物的效果， 采取干预措施，改善居家老年人的营养健康。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) is to provide the candidate, a newly graduated medical sociologist, with additional training and research experience that will enable her to pursue an academic career in aging with a focus on eating behaviors in homebound older adults. In order to fully understand and investigate the many factors that influence eating behaviors and health outcomes, and to design appropriate interventions to improve nutritional status in frail, homebound older adults, the candidate will need to acquire specialized knowledge and skills. She proposes a career development plan that consists of coursework, training, and research experiences with a mentoring/ consulting team of senior faculty and external mentors with expertise in the areas of nutrition, public health, and advanced statistics. The research program consists of a pilot study using a longitudinal design with consecutive waves of data collection. The first goal of the study is to examine the maintenance or modification of eating behaviors in older homebound adults who are experiencing an acute illness or chronic medical conditions, and factors associated with the maintenance or modification of those eating behaviors. The second goal of the study is to examine the direct and mediating effects of these eating behaviors on nutrition-related patient-based health outcomes. This research focuses on self-care eating behaviors adopted by frail older persons who are homebound because of acute or chronic health conditions, the stability and change of these behaviors over time, and the impact of these eating behaviors on health outcomes. This study will provide information that can be used to develop interventions and the preliminary data needed to design a larger-scale clinical intervention trial to test the effects of these interventions for improving the nutritional health of older homebound adults.