Association between dietary satisfaction and dietary factors in community-dwelling individuals with physical disabilities within the sports community

Abstract

Objectives: 1) To evaluate the association between dietary satisfaction and behavior, and 2) to evaluate the association between dietary behavior (taking care of diet for health) and factors of the trans-theoretical model (TTM) or social cognitive theory including outcome expectations (OE) and self-efficacy (SE) in individuals with physical disabilities.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted as an anonymous questionnaire survey of individuals with disabilities at two sports centers in Tokyo between June and July 2012. A total of 739 questionnaires were distributed, and responses were received from 652 individuals (88.2% recovery rate). Finally, responses from 391 adults with physical disabilities (52.9% valid response rate) were analyzed. 1) The associations between dietary satisfaction and dietary behavior, and 2) the associations between taking care of diet for health and TTM, OE and SE were determined using binomial logistic regression analysis.
Results: 1) Dietary satisfaction was significantly associated with taking care of diet for health. 2) Taking care of diet for health was significantly associated with the readiness to eat fruits (Model 1, TTM), with thinking that it is very important to eat fruits (Model 2, OE), and with being sure to eat green vegetables and fruits (Model 3, SE).
Conclusions: The behavioral factor associated with dietary satisfaction in community-dwelling individuals with physical disabilities was taking care of diet for health. The relationships between taking care of diet for health and dietary factors suggested that the key element of healthy eating habits was the attitude toward eating vegetables and fruits.