The impact of home, work, and church environments on fat intake over time among rural residents: a longitudinal observational study

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Regine Haardörfer, Emory University; Iris Alcantara, Emory Prevention Research Center; Ann Addison, Primary Care of Southwest Georgia, Inc; Karen Glanz, Emory University; Michelle Kegler, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2015-12
• Publisher: BioMed Central
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © Haardörfer et al. 2016. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-2764-z
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: BMC Public Health
• ISSN: 1471-2458
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 1
• Grant/Funding Information: Funding for this research was provided through cooperative agreements #U48DP 000043 and 5U48DP001909 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the Emory Prevention Research Center (EPRC).
• Keywords: Socio-ecological model; Longitudinal; Fat intake; Rural
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Nutrition; Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Epidemiology

Abstract

Background: Dietary behaviors are influenced by many individual and environmental factors. This study explores how dietary fat intake in high-risk midlife adults living in the rural south is influenced by three behavior settings, i.e. in the home, at work, and at church. Methods: Self-report data were collected from rural African American or Caucasian adults age 40–70 at three time points at baseline, 6, and 12 months post baseline. Multilevel analyses investigated the impact of determinants of fat intake over time. Results: Home and work environments varied significantly over time in regard to healthy eating while church environments remained stable. Age, gender, and self-efficacy for healthy eating were individual factors associated with fat intake. In the home, presence of more high fat items, a time-varying variable, was significant. In the work environment, having access to healthy foods as well as healthy eating programs has positive impact as did hearing healthy eating messages and availability of healthy foods at church. Conclusions: Understanding stability and variability of dietary fat intake from a social ecologic perspective will aid in identifying targets of change for intervention. Understanding which components of key behavior settings are dynamic and which are relatively stable will help to disentangle the complexity of multi-level determinants of dietary behavior.