Assessment of the Elderly and Their Caregivers' Knowledge Regarding Food Safety in Assiut Governorate

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Assistant lecturer, Geriatric Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Assiut University

2 Professor of Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University

3 Professor of Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Assiut University

4 Lecturer of Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Assiut University

Abstract

Background: Food safety is an important part of public health that links health to agriculture and other food production sectors. Seniors are at particular risk of food borne illnesses because of their weaken immune systems, decrease in stomach acidity and intestinal peristalsis. The aim: to assess the knowledge of the elderly and their caregivers about food safety. Design: descriptive cross sectional research design. Setting: The present study was carried out at Assiut city and Assiut district in Assiut governorate. The subjects: purposive sample used in this study, 10% of the total number of the elderly people from every area was selected randomly who aged 60 years and above and their caregivers involved in the study. The total number of the elderly was 720 (340 from urban and 380 from rural areas) and their caregivers (135 subjects). Results: The results revealed that (44.1%) of the urban and (52.1%) of the rural elderly referred to the house wife as responsible for food safety, the majority of both the urban elderly (85.0%) and their caregivers (88.6%) identify the presence of different diseases caused by contaminated food. Conclusion: the subjects from both the elderly and their caregivers had a lack of knowledge regarding the non-recommended food for the elderly, pesticide residue elimination from the food. Recommendation: the information about food safety should be disseminated through mass media, television, newspapers and magazines at regular periods. Adequate books, periodical and pamphlets with simple explanations including materials related to food safety should be available in the different public libraries

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