ABSTRACT
This chapter provides descriptive information on the functions and providers of nutrition-related social support and examines the effects of functional status and nutrition-related social support on diet quality. Social support was also defined as the number of types of grocery acquisition support and the number of helpers by types of grocery acquisition support. Types of food acquisition support may be substitutive rather than additive. In particular, women with severe disabilities are unable to use some forms of support, such as accompaniment to the grocery store. Alternative explanations exist for the differences in diet quality at various levels of functional status and social support. However, statistical detection of curvilinear trends is difficult, because of limitations similar to those in detection of joint effects. The objectives of the nutrition education programs often focus on improving (changing) current eating behaviors of the learner.
