Perceived Availability of and Attitudes toward Healthy Food Choices in Assisted-Living Facilities in Kansas

The purpose of this project was to assess perceived availability of healthy food choices and examine relationships between attitudes, subjective norms (SN), perceived behavior control (PBC), and behavior intention (BI) to consume healthy food at assisted-living facilities using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TpB). An instrument based on the theory of planned behavior (TpB) was developed and tested with 115 elderly residents in eight facilities in Kansas. The results showed that attitudes toward healthy food and SN were positively associated with consumption intention. However, PBC among residents was not a significant predictor of the intention to select healthy food choices. The results of this study confirmed that elderly population living in elder care facilities desires and are willing to choose healthy food choices but feel the lack of their control over food choices. Managers from these facilities may utilize this data to recognize their residents’ needs, investigate ways to improve residents’ diets, and potentially increase healthy food consumption of their elderly clients.