Significados psicológicos e culturais do comportamento alimentar de adoecidos crônicos por síndrome metabólica : um estudo clínico-qualitativo / Psychological and cultural meanings of eating behavior in chronic metabolic syndrome patients : a clinical-qualitative study

AUTOR(ES)
FONTE

IBICT - Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia

DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

30/06/2010

RESUMO

Eating behaviors are relevant issues in the treatment for obesity, dyslipidemias, hypertension, type II diabetes and other chronic metabolism disorders. Literature has established that an association of three or more of those disorders is referred to as Metabolic Syndrome, which is considered a growing health issue. The objective of the present study was to identify the psychological and cultural meanings of eating behavior linked to the process of developing chronic disease due to Metabolic Syndrome, in people receiving care. The Qualitative Clinical Method was applied at the outpatient clinic of a university hospital in Southeast Brazil. Semi-directed individual interviews were conducted in depth with nine Metabolic Syndrome patients, who comprised the purposive sample determined by saturation. The verbal and non-verbal statements composed the corpus of the study, which was analyzed based on repeated in-depth readings. Results were interpreted based on a psychodynamic framework with an analytical grounding, complemented with contributions from the anthropology of eating, thus permitting to organize the results into the following eight categories: 1- The stigmatized fat body: a body without health and without beauty; 2- The fetish of surgery to cure obesity; 3- The restrained desire: eating much could be little to quench their emotional hunger; 4-The conquest of autonomy: reassign meanings to feeding to manage the symptoms of Metabolic Syndrome; 5- The depressive and paralyzing state of subjects with difficulties to establish self-care; 6- Meanings of the diet: the loss of pleasure and the liberty of eating; 7- Achievements in handling the treatment based on dealing with vulnerability situations; 8-Autonomy versus prescription. A rejection towards obesity was revealed by the subjects, which shifts their focus from managing self-care, as it is permeated by a lipophobic culture that exalts thinness and youth. The subjects desire to undergo a surgery that would cure their excessive weight is associated to their associating a meaning of disease to body fat. The cultural thoughts of medicalizing obesity account for the difficulty that subjects have to accept and take control over their own body. The dissociation of eating habits as determinants of excessive weight gain and using food to fill in emotional gaps revealed fragility of dealing with emotional conflicts, and difficulties of taking responsibility over the care process. The meanings assigned to loosing pleasure and the loss of liberty to eat, both associated with dieting, have a negative effect on the process of managing the disease. On the other hand, culinary knowledge, valuing the identity of eating culture and commensality in the family demonstrate the potential of reorganizing everyday eating. Poor adherence to diet prescriptions is associated to an ideal eating behavior standard and stands apart from a position of respect and support towards establishing autonomy in developing personal resources to deal with the process of chronic illness through life. The interdisciplinary character of the present study promoted the valorization of the practice of listening to the psychological and cultural meanings of eating behaviors, hence offering contributions regarding the nutritional care of individuals with Metabolic Syndrome

ASSUNTO(S)

padrões alimentares dieta doença crônica pesquisa qualitativa doenças metabólicas cultura feeding behavior diet chronic disease qualitative research metabolic diseases culture

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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