Eating Behaviors in Homebound Older Adults

说明(由申请人提供)：本指导研究的目的 科学家发展奖(K01)是为候选人提供一种新的 毕业的医学社会学家，有额外的培训和研究 这将使她能够在衰老的过程中追求学术生涯 关注呆在家里的老年人的饮食行为。为了充分地 了解并调查影响饮食行为的诸多因素 和健康结果，并设计适当的干预措施以改善 虚弱在家的老年人的营养状况，候选人将需要 获得专业知识和技能。她提出了职业发展的建议 由课程、培训和研究经验组成的计划 资深教职员工和外部导师组成的指导/咨询团队 在营养、公共卫生和高级统计领域的专业知识。 研究计划包括一项采用纵向设计的先导性研究 伴随着一波又一波的数据收集。研究的第一个目标是 检查老年人在家中饮食行为的维持或改变 患有急性疾病或慢性疾病的成年人， 以及与那些进食的人的维持或改变相关的因素 行为。这项研究的第二个目标是考察直接和调解 这些饮食行为对营养相关患者健康的影响 结果。本研究主要针对脆弱人群的自理饮食行为进行研究。 因急性或慢性健康状况而不能回家的老年人， 这些行为的稳定性和随时间的变化，以及这些行为的影响 饮食行为对健康结果的影响。这项研究将提供以下信息 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 改善居家老年人营养健康的干预措施。

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.