Performance of Dietary Behaviors in Chronic Community-Dwelling Stroke Survivors: A Mixed-Methods Study

Abstract

In order to gain a better understanding of post-stroke dietary behaviors (e.g., selecting, accessing, and preparing healthy foods) among chronic, community-dwelling stroke survivors, we conducted a mixed-methods study consisting of a quantitative online survey (n = 63) and follow-up focus groups with a subset of participants (n = 7). Perceived performance, assistance required, adaptive equipment and compensatory strategies used, and sources of education and training were examined. Results demonstrated (1) diminished post-stroke performance for most dietary behaviors (e.g., grocery shopping, meal preparation), (2) an increased desire to eat healthily to prevent recurrent stroke, (3) variable use of adaptive equipment and compensatory strategies, and (4) limited healthcare-based dietary behavior education and training. These results suggest that stroke survivors could benefit from increased dietary behavior intervention to improve dietary behavior performance. Findings can be used to guide clinical intervention and design future research studies.

Keywords:

• Activities of daily living
• cooking
• dietary behaviors
• healthy eating
• meal preparation
• stroke

Declaration of interest

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health under Grant 5U24NS107228.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.