Correlates, Facilitators and Barriers of Healthy Eating Among Primary Care Patients with Prediabetes in Singapore-A Mixed Methods Approach

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 11; no. 5; p. 1014
• Main Authors: Lim, Raymond Boon Tar, Wee, Wei Keong, For, Wei Chek, Ananthanarayanan, Jayalakshmy Aarthi, Soh, Ying Hua, Goh, Lynette Mei Lim, Tham, Dede Kam Tyng, Wong, Mee Lian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 06.05.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Carbohydrates; Diabetes; diabetes prevention; Diet; Eating; Food groups; Fruits; Health care; Meat; mixed methods; Mixed methods research; nutrition; prediabetes; Primary care; Public health; Studies; Teenagers; Vegetables; Malaysia; Singapore; Asia; Asia-Pacific region; diabetes prevention; primary care; nutrition; mixed methods; prediabetes; public health
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu11051014

Healthy diet remains the primary means to prevent chronic diseases among those with prediabetes. We conducted a mixed methods study, consisting of a cross-sectional survey and in-depth interviews to assess factors associated with fulfilling the healthy plate recommendation, and to explore reasons for the behaviour among primary care patients with prediabetes in Singapore. The prevalence of meeting the recommendation was 57.3%. This was positively associated with being married and negatively associated with being Malay, frequency of eating out weekly and frequency of deep-fried food consumption weekly. The recurrent themes for not meeting the recommendation included family influence, perception of healthy food being not tasty, lack of skills to prepare or choose healthy food, difficulty in finding healthier options when eating out, and healthy food being costly. The recurrent themes for meeting the recommendation included family influence, self-discipline, fear of disease complications, education by healthcare professionals, mass media influence and health promotion campaigns. Much more remains to be done to promote healthy eating among these patients. There were different levels of facilitators and barriers to healthy eating. Apart from the individual and interpersonal levels, practitioners and policy makers need to work together to address the organisational, community and policy barriers to healthy eating.