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Aim:The aim of this study was to explore patient satisfaction with hospitalfoodservice in the Swedish setting, using a validated instrument, adding thiscontext to the existing body of research. Methods:The study was carried out at three hospitals employing cyclicmenus and conventional cook-serve foodservice systems with centralised trayassemblies and hot-trolley distributions to the wards for service. Patient satis-faction was explored using a translated version of the validated Acute CareHospital Foodservice Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire. Groups were com-pared with Mann-WhitneyU-test and Kruskal Wallis test with a set signifi-cance level ofP< .05. Results:Questionnaires from 439 patients were included in the analysis. Themajority (80%) reported an overall satisfaction of“good”or“very good.”Questionsrelated to Staff and Service received mostly the highest possible ratings, while ques-tions related to Food Quality and Meal Size had slightly lower ratings and highervariation. Comparisons between groups showed that differences were small evenwhen statistically significant. Low appetite and a long hospital stay had an adverseeffect on overall satisfaction and food quality-related questions. Men and youngerpatients reported more often beinghungry after and between meals. Conclusions:Hospital foodservice faces the challenge of catering to multiplepatient needs. Monitoring patient satisfaction is crucial to ensure thatfoodservice operations remain evidence based. The Acute Care HospitalFoodservice Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire provided a general overviewthat indicated foodservice areas with potential for improvement, althoughpatient satisfaction overall was high. However, patient satisfaction is a complexmeasure and reflexivity is required when interpreting empirical results.

Background: Changing to healthier dietary habits is quite difficult to implement and even more difficult to sustain. As the majority of people have some or all their meals with others, it is likely that their social relationships influence the dietary change process and its sustainability. Thus, the aim of this research was to explore and describe experiences of dietary change and its sustainability in the context of an individual’s social relationships.Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted individually with fourteen individuals who had previously been participants in a 3-month dietary intervention study using a Mediterranean diet. Thematic analysis was used on verbatim transcripts of the interviews. Results: Social relationships were the main barrier to sustainability – in particular social relationships within the household where various coping strategies were needed on an everyday basis. Social relationships outside the household were also difficult to manage as dietary change challenged existing traditions and norms of what to eat. The changer was thereby forced to risk social disapprova lor to deviate from the diet. Conclusions: Social relationships within and outside the household complicated the accomplishment of healthy dietary changes. Hence, it is important to acknowledge the social context of the changer when dietary change is to be implemented., Article first published online: 19 JAN 2011

Comparisons between younger and older women in the kitchen usually focus on the historical argument that younger women do not have the domestic cooking skills of their mothers or grandmothers. At one level, this is convincing because there is now demonstrably greater reliance on ready meals and processed foods, and less on the home production of meals from raw ingredients. Compared with the immediate post-Second World War years, not so much time is routinely spent in the kitchen, and food preparation is no longer a task central to the lives of many women. The availability of meals or meal components requiring less domestic labour and improved kitchen technology are both factors in this transformation of women's lives. However, they are not just available to the young. So, this research questions the impact of these factors across the age spectrum. Older women may have had very different domestic experiences earlier in their lives but have they now converged with the practices of younger women? How do younger and older women compare in terms of their food practices and the cooking skills they currently use in the kitchen? Using Scottish questionnaire data from a cross-national study, this paper reports on the differences and similarities for 37 younger women (25–45 years; mean 32 years) and 43 older women (60–75 years; mean 68 years) in their actual use of specific food preparation and cooking techniques, the kind of meals they made, and the extent to which they ate out or ordered in meals for home consumption. Results indicated that while there were some differences in food preparation, the use of fresh ingredients and the style of cooking undertaken in the home, these were mostly marginal. There were similar response patterns for the adequacy of their domestic facilities and equipment. There was, however, a notable divergence in their patterns of eating meals out, or phoning out for meals. These data suggest that while younger and older women – different cooking ge