Self-Determination, Optimism, Social Support, Knowledge, and Skills Have a Positive Influence on the Oral Intake of Long-Stay Acute Patients: A Qualitative Study.

Background: Although previous research has attempted to understand the barriers and enablers of oral intake in hospitalized patients, these studies have mainly focused on short-stay inpatients and lacked a theory-driven examination of the determinants that influence dietary behavior in the hospital.

Objective: To explore and compare the factors influencing adequate and poor oral intake in long-stay acute patients (admitted >14 days).

Design: A qualitative descriptive study with semistructured interviews.

Participants/setting: Twenty-one adult inpatients (13 men, 8 women) admitted to 2 medical and 2 surgical wards at a tertiary hospital in Brisbane, Australia, during 2022, stratified by the Subjective Global Assessment. Analysis performed Transcripts were initially deductively analyzed against the Theoretical Domains Framework, and a reflexive thematic approach was used to create overall themes.

Results: Of the 21 included patients (median age = 68.0 years, IQR 34 years), 11 had adequate/improved intake and 10 poor/decreased intake. Six themes were identified to have influenced oral intake in long-stay patients: self-determination to eat; nutrition impact symptoms; foodservice characteristics and processes; nutrition-related knowledge and skills; social support; and optimism, emotions, and emotion regulation. Patients with adequate/improved oral intake were characterized by an autonomous motivation to eat. They had increased awareness about their nutritional status, knowledge, and skills about food for recovery, were more optimistic, and social support was an important enabler to eating. In contrast, patients with poor/decreased oral intake perceived nutrition impact symptoms and dislike of meals as the main barriers to eating in the hospital; however, they also expressed more negative emotions, reduced coping strategies, and decreased knowledge, skills, intrinsic motivation, and capabilities to eat. Social support was present but did not enable oral intake in this patient group.

Conclusions: This study provides novel insights into the factors that influenced oral intake in long-stay acute patients, highlighting the importance of patient-centered nutrition care, encompassing motivational interviewing techniques and collaboration from the multidisciplinary team to create a supportive environment that fosters autonomy and empowers patients to actively participate in their own nutrition and recovery.