Understanding food choice behaviors of people with type 2 diabetes

The ways in which patients with diabetes use information to make food choices are not well described. Although some factors that influence food choice are known, it is not known how these factors act in combination to influence the dietary patterns of patients with diabetes.; The research questions included: (1) What are the major ways of thinking that people with type 2 diabetes use in food choice behavior? (2) Does the perceived importance of information from health services associate with better dietary patterns? (3) Does the perceived importance of information from health services associate with better weight management?; The respondents were a self-selected patient group with type 2 diabetes attending the education programs of the Diabetes Education Center (DEC), Health Sciences Centre, Winnipeg. Each respondent completed a demographic questionnaire and a 45-minute in-depth interview. During the interview, each respondent created a record of food related activities during a typical day, and discussed the reasons for these activities.; Using content analysis, the frequencies with which combinations of reasons for behavior, mentioned by respondents, were recorded. The combinations of reasons were used as variables in cluster analysis. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...