Abstract
Objective: To examine the differences in information sources and outcome expectancy, depending on the degree of interest in food-related community activities to encourage elderly people to participate in community activities.
Methods: We conducted a self-administered questionnaire survey for participants in care prevention projects in Higashimurayama city, Tokyo, from October to December 2019. Items in the questionnaire were on demographic characteristics, interest in food-related activities, years of participation in food-related activities, number of food-related activities that individuals have participated in, information sources of activities, outcome expectancy, and self-rated health. Data obtained from 235 participants aged ≥65 years was analyzed. We compared the characteristics of information sources and outcome expectancy by assigning participants to three groups depending on the degree of interest.
Results: Sixty-seven (28.5%) participants were very interested in food-related community activities, 98 (41.7%) participants were fairly interested, and 70 (29.8%) were not interested. “Not interested” participants were more likely to use “people” rather than “print media” as an information source as compared to “very interested” participants (OR (odds rate) [95% confidence interval]=2.28 [1.01, 5.19]). “Not interested” and “fairly interested” participants had low outcome expectancy to activities.
Conclusion: Participants who were not interested in food-related community activities mainly used information from people around them rather than print media. It is suggested that it is crucial to create pleasant experiences for people who are not interested and those with low outcome expectancy when they first participate in order to encourage them to continue participating in community activities.
