Identifying barriers and facilitators to adopting healthier dietary choices in clinical care: a cross-sectional observational study

Background and aims: Adopting healthier diets can drastically improve societal health. Our environment plays a crucial role in daily dietary choices and hospitals in particular can stimulate patients to adopt healthier eating habits. Unfortunately, no robust clinically applicable cuing tools exist to help guide in-hospital dietary interventions. The purpose of this study was to identify patient-related barriers and facilitators to adopting healthier dietary choices. Methods and results: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted on the cardiology ward of a university medical center between June 2020 and January 2021. Of the 594 patients asked and the 312 completed surveys on healthy eating intentions, 285 responses were considered for analysis. Notably, the majority of respondents were male (68.8%), with an average hospital stay of 3.3 days. The results indicate that cardiac patients attribute significantly greater influence on their dietary behavior to doctors compared to other caregivers, including dieticians (X² = 37.09, df = 9, p < 0.001). Also, younger patients (below 70 years of age) were more inclined to plan changing dietary behavior than older patients. Most mentioned facilitators for adopting a healthier diet were more information/counseling, help in preparing food, support from family and friends, and more emphasis from a doctor. Conclusion: The study highlights the importance of involving doctors in formulating dietary policies and patient-directed interventions within hospital settings. It also sheds light on the barriers and facilitators for promoting healthier dietary behaviors among patients during their hospitalization.