Abstract
Peoples’ perceptions of healthy eating are influenced by the cultural context in which they occur. Despite this general acceptance by health practitioners and social scientists, studies suggest that there remains a relative homogeneity around peoples’ perceptions that informs a hegemonic discourse around healthy eating. People often describe healthy eating in terms of learned information from sources that reflect societies’ norms and values, such as the Canada Food Guide and the ubiquitous phrase “fruits and vegetables”. Past research has examined how built environments shape people’s access to healthy living options, such as distribution of grocers versus convenience stores and fast food restaurants. Often overlooked is an in-depth understanding of how social contexts interact with built environments, molding peoples’ perceptions of healthy eating. This paper reports on perceptions of healthy eating in four communities across Alberta, Canada. A photovoice methodology was employed to elicit perceptions of healthy eating with 35 participants. This study illustrates how participants’ photographs and their stories convey multiple meanings about healthy eating within their own lives and communities. Findings suggest that a ‘local’ context is an important part of the discourse centered around the promotion of healthy eating practices in these and potential other communities.
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Notes
This paper focused on the healthy eating component of the larger CHBE project. The photographs and stories around the physical activity component were analyzed by the research team and was published in a separate paper (Belon et al. 2014).
Name was changed to retain data integrity.
Abbreviations
- BV:
-
Town of Bonnyville
- CHBE:
-
Community Health and the Built Environment
- GFS:
-
Global food system
- MHR:
-
City of Medicine Hat/Town of Redcliff
- NCE:
-
North Central Edmonton
- SP:
-
Town of St. Paul
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Acknowledgments
Funding for this project was provided by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada in partnership with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Additional funding was provided by the Killam Research Fund at the University of Alberta. The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the study participants and community partners, without whom this project would not have been possible. The authors would also like to thank Silvia Koso, Rehana Nanjijum and Deborah Rawson for their assistance with this project.
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Hammer, B.A., Vallianatos, H., Nykiforuk, C.I.J. et al. Perceptions of healthy eating in four Alberta communities: a photovoice project. Agric Hum Values 32, 649–662 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-015-9583-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-015-9583-1