{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,8]],"date-time":"2026-10-08T16:48:00Z","timestamp":1791478080112,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"16","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,11]],"date-time":"2024-08-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1723334400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain","award":["10.13039\/5011000011033"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["10.13039\/5011000011033"]}]},{"name":"Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain","award":["AP-0306-2022-C3-F2"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["AP-0306-2022-C3-F2"]}]},{"name":"Fundaci\u00f3n Progreso y Salud, Spain","award":["10.13039\/5011000011033"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["10.13039\/5011000011033"]}]},{"name":"Fundaci\u00f3n Progreso y Salud, Spain","award":["AP-0306-2022-C3-F2"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["AP-0306-2022-C3-F2"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>(1) Background: Currently, numerous qualitative research studies on food and its influence on health are being conducted. In qualitative research, data are obtained by analyzing participants\u2019 responses. However, silence during conversation has been little studied. The aim of this study was to interpret the silences in the narratives of elderly people living alone about the potential risks of not keeping a healthy diet. (2) Methods: This is a descriptive and interpretative observational study under the qualitative research paradigm following a phenomenological and ethnographic perspective. The study was developed in two phases with people over 65 years old. In the first phase, from June 2021 to January 2022, 90 interviews, 12 life history analyses, 58 food diaries and 51 free listings (cultural domain technique) were conducted. In the second phase, from March to June 2022, 3 participatory workshops and 24 pile sorts (cultural domain technique) were conducted, as well as 3 focus groups. Only data from participants over 65 years old living alone are analyzed in this paper. The ATLAS-ti (Version 22) qualitative analysis software was used for coding and data analysis. (3) Results: The results show that elderly people living alone would sometimes remain silent during the various conversations conducted within the research. This silence reflects their desire to downplay the risks to their health from not eating well due to their unwanted loneliness. The people participating in our research had chronic health problems, financial insecurity and emotional problems. (4) Conclusions: We concluded that elderly people living alone are unable to maintain a healthy diet because they downplay their risk of malnutrition. This mindset is caused by their loneliness and bolstered by a situation of learned helplessness and social injustice.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu16162655","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,12]],"date-time":"2024-08-12T08:54:08Z","timestamp":1723452848000},"page":"2655","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Breaking the Silence on Food Risks for Elderly People Living Alone"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9124-1883","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Miguel","family":"Company-Morales","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Seron Primary Care Center, Northern Almer\u00eda Integrated Healthcare Area, 04600 Almeria, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Medicine, University of Almer\u00eda, La Ca\u00f1ada, 04120 Almeria, Spain"},{"name":"\u201cToxic Body\u201d Interdisciplinary Network, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Barcelona, 08001 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8078-1673","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lina","family":"Casad\u00f3-Mar\u00edn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"\u201cToxic Body\u201d Interdisciplinary Network, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Barcelona, 08001 Barcelona, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Nursing, Medical Anthropology Research Centre (MARC), University of Rovira i Virgili, 43003 Tarragona, Spain"},{"name":"Medical Anthropology Research Center (MARC), University of Rovira i Virgili, 43005 Tarragona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0768-8931","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Araceli","family":"Mu\u00f1oz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"\u201cToxic Body\u201d Interdisciplinary Network, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Barcelona, 08001 Barcelona, Spain"},{"name":"Medical Anthropology Research Center (MARC), University of Rovira i Virgili, 43005 Tarragona, Spain"},{"name":"Training and Research Unit, School of Social Work, University of Barcelona, 08035 Barcelona, Spain"},{"name":"Research and Innovation Group in Social Work (GRITS), Training and Research Unit, School of Social Work, University of Barcelona, 08035 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6670-9088","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andr\u00e9s","family":"Fontalba-Navas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"\u201cToxic Body\u201d Interdisciplinary Network, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Barcelona, 08001 Barcelona, Spain"},{"name":"Antequera Hospital, Northern M\u00e1laga Integrated Healthcare Area, 29200 Malaga, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Public Health and Psychiatry, University of M\u00e1laga, 29016 Malaga, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2024, February 26). 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