Maternal Perception and Attitudes Regarding Healthcare Professionals’ Guidelines on Feeding Practices in the Child’s First Year of Life.

Maternal perception and attitudes regarding healthcare professionals’ guidelines on feeding practices in the child’s first year of life.

J Pediatr (Rio J). 2013 Jul 10;
Broilo MC, Louzada ML, de Lourdes Drachler M, Stenzel LM, Vitolo MR

To evaluate the maternal perceptions and attitudes related to adherence to healthcare professionals’ guidelines on breastfeeding and complementary feeding, and associated factors.A cross-sectional analysis of data from a randomized field trial was performed, in which 20 health centers (HCs) were selected in the city of Porto Alegre, state of Rio Grande do Sul, from eight Health Management Districts of the city. Pregnant women were selected from these HCs, and when the children were aged between six and nine months, data regarding the maternal perception of adherence to professional advice and consequences of feeding practices on child health were obtained during home visits. Association analyses were performed using Poisson regression.Data were collected from 631 mother-child binomials. According to the mothers’ perception, 47% reported not following instructions received in the HU. Among these, 45.7% did not recognize the importance of eating habits for the child’s health. The perception of adherence to professional advice was associated with higher prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), introduction of solid food (ISF) after four months, introduction of non-recommended foods after six months, and higher family income. A higher prevalence of EBF and ISF was observed after four months (p < 0.05) among mothers who believed in the importance of feeding habits for the child's health.There was a high prevalence of mothers who did not follow the advice of health professionals; the perception that food does not affect the child's health can be a barrier to the improvement of eating habits in childhood. HubMed – eating

Functional MRI investigation of verbal working memory in adults with anorexia nervosa.

Eur Psychiatry. 2013 Jul 11;
Lao-Kaim NP, Giampietro VP, Williams SC, Simmons A, Tchanturia K

Literature regarding verbal working memory (vWM) in anorexia nervosa (AN) has been inconsistent due to a misunderstanding of the key components of vWM and introduction of confounding stimuli. Furthermore, there are no studies looking at how brain function in people with AN relates to vWM performance. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with a letter n-back paradigm to study the effect of increasing vWM task difficulty on cortical functioning in the largest AN sample to date (n=31). Although the AN group had low BMI and higher anxious and depressive symptomology compared to age-matched controls (HC), there were no between-group differences in accuracy and speed at any task difficulty. fMRI data revealed no regions exhibiting significant differences in activation when groups were compared at each difficulty separately and no regions showing group x condition interaction. Although there was a trend towards lower accuracy as duration of illness increased, this was not correlated with activity in regions associated with vWM. These findings indicate that vWM in AN is as efficient and performed using the same cognitive strategy as HC, and that there may not be a need for therapies to pursue remediation of this particular neurocognitive faculty. HubMed – eating

Features of problematic eating behaviors among community-dwelling older adults with dementia: Family caregivers’ experience.

Geriatr Nurs. 2013 Jul 9;
Hsiao HC, Chao HC, Wang JJ

This study aimed to explore family caregivers’ experience of the problematic eating behaviors among community-dwelling older adults with dementia, and how these caregivers cope with these problems. An exploratory qualitative study using purposive sampling recruited family caregivers of community-dwelling older adults with dementia in southern Taiwan. In-depth interviews were carried out with a semi-structured interview guide. Data were saturated when the number of participants reached a certain number. The following three features were derived from the content analysis: fundamental deviations of eating behaviors, expressing needs through eating behaviors, and loss of eating ability. The results also show that caregivers often derived their own ways of coping with the problems they faced, and tended to have negative attitudes and behaviors with regard to coping with the demands of older adults with dementia. The findings of this study can provide valuable information to family caregivers with regard to the problematic eating behaviors of older adults with dementia, so that early recognition and understanding of such behaviors facilitate appropriate responses, thus reducing the burden shouldered by caregivers. HubMed – eating