Margot Dyen, Andréa Gourmelen, Samuel Guillemot, Ziad Malas and Annick Tamaro
Preventative public health policies often rely on objective criteria to identify people in vulnerable situations. Age is one of the criteria when investigating the risk of…
Abstract
Purpose
Preventative public health policies often rely on objective criteria to identify people in vulnerable situations. Age is one of the criteria when investigating the risk of malnutrition associated with ageing. By looking at changes in the food practices of individuals as they age, this study aims to seek to contribute to more precise targeting of older adults in view of the dynamic nature of ageing.
Design/methodology/approach
From a theoretical perspective, this research is based on the life course paradigm. Data were collected from 42 semi-structured interviews with retirees aged 60 and over.
Findings
The results show that some ageing events lead to immense reconfigurations of individuals’ lives, implying changes as prior food practices are extensively replaced by new ones (“rebuilding after a tsunami”). Other more diffuse and gradual effects of ageing lead to adaptations of previous food practices and, in a more localised way, areas that can be targeted by healthy eating campaigns (“plugging the gaps”). Lastly, this study shows that a normative perspective can help endorse a new social role (“getting into character”), and that relying on their human capital (“it’s a matter of perspective”) can help people cope with new age-related mindsets.
Research limitations/implications
The sample did not include individuals with serious physical or mental health problems at the time of the interviews.
Practical implications
The study identifies social, biological and psychological events related to ageing that have an impact on food practices, as well as moments and milestones for developing public policy campaigns to promote healthy eating.
Originality/value
The study gives insights into the place of food in the process of coping with ageing, showing that food can be either a problem to solve or a resource to help cope with social or psychological imbalances. The holistic view adopted contributes to identifying other events that impact food practices (and consequently health) during the ageing process.
Details
Keywords
Toni Ryynänen and Visa Heinonen
Temporal consumption experiences have been conceptualised as universal, subjective or practice-based experiences. Little research, though, addresses such experiences in…
Abstract
Purpose
Temporal consumption experiences have been conceptualised as universal, subjective or practice-based experiences. Little research, though, addresses such experiences in conjunction with the repeated and situational consumption events that bring them about. The purpose of this paper is to extend current knowledge by examining how the temporal and situational intertwine during consumption events. For this purpose, the concept of a consumption timecycle based on the research data is constructed.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper takes a longitudinal and researcher-led approach to study temporal consumption experiences. The data was collected through participant observations, video recordings and personal subjective introspections during three consecutive annual Nordic motorcycle consumer trade shows (2014–2016). The data was analysed using an interpretive approach.
Findings
The results demonstrate five temporalities that characterise a consumption timecycle as follows: emerging, core, intensifying, fading and idle-time temporalities. The features of these temporal experiences are presented in the conclusions section of the paper.
Research limitations/implications
Recalled temporal experiences are mediated experiences and they differ from lived experiences. The transferability or generalisability of the results might be limited, as the case is situated in the Nordic context.
Originality/value
The paper presents the novel concept of a consumption timecycle that extends current debates about consumer time. The consumption timecycle is contrasted with established temporal concepts in consumer and marketing research.