Objective: The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth account of the beliefs and experiences pertaining to food and health from a specific group of low-income women in the United Kingdom.
Design: Data for this in-depth, qualitative study were collected using audiotaped semistructured interviews.
Participants: Fourteen white, European women (aged 40 to 60 years) from a defined low-income group were recruited using systematic, nonprobabilistic sampling. Participants lived in a small city in a largely rural region of the United Kingdom.
Analysis: Interview transcripts were analyzed using an interpretative phenomenological approach. They were evaluated independently by several investigators, and, following discussions, a series of "shared themes" were agreed upon.
Results: All of the shared themes identified could be grouped into three superthemes or "drivers," which seemed to govern the women's attitudes and behaviors toward food choice and health. "Egocentric systems" related to the uniqueness of the participants and the social worlds they inhabit. "Information characteristics" described what information the participants were exposed to and how it was processed. Finally, "control issues" described how perceptions of control influenced attitudes toward food and health.
Conclusions and implications: The study highlights the need for health professionals to consider the different value systems of target groups in health promotion policies. The impact of "New Age" beliefs and the Human Genome Project on public health nutrition are two areas that particularly merit further research.