The assessment of eating pleasure among older adults: Development and preliminary validation of the anticipatory and consummatory eating pleasure (ACEPS)
Deriving pleasure from eating is an important factor in enhancing and maintaining an adequate nutritional status in the geriatric population. Bailly et al. (2020) investigated the utility, validity and conformity of the Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (a scale that differentiates between the experience of pleasure from anticipating and consuming food), when used on a geraitric population (consisting of 199 meal-dependent participants over the age of 65) in their prospective validation study. The authors collected data on demography, nutrition, appetite, and depressive symptoms, in addition to a consolidation of 16-self reported items, to formulate their anticipatory and consummatory eating pleasure scale (ACEPS). Analysis of the data revealed a two-factor model: the anticipatory eating pleasure and the consummatory eating pleasure models, consisting of four items each. ACEPS demonstrated uniform results, wherein a higher ACEPS score was significantly linked with appetite. A high consummatory eating pleasure score substantially related to a better nutritional status and a lower incidence of depressive symptoms. In addition, older participants and those receiving their meals through delivery services (such as meals-on-wheels) scored lower in anticipatory pleasure. The authors conclude that the ACEPS, a novel encompassing scale to evaluate pleasure from eating, successfully differentiated pleasure from anticipation vs. pleasure from consuming food. ACEPS presents an effective, easily administered, early detection and intervention measure to address malnutrition and health decline in a vulnerable geriatric population. ACEPS highlights enhancing pleasure from anticipation of meals as a potential embarkation to boost geriatric food intake. [NPID: Appetite, eating pleasure, nutritional status, older adults, validation]
Year: 2020
