جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « Functional dairy products » در نشریات گروه « پزشکی »

The production of functional foods to prevent and manage diet-related chronic diseases is rising worldwide, including in Iran. It is essential to understand factors affecting the acceptance of functional foods. The present study was conducted to design a valid reliable questionnaire for assessing determinants of functional dairy product consumption and preferences in adults in Tehran, the capital city of Iran.

This study was a mixed-method (qualitative and quantitative) study. The questionnaire items were derived from the qualitative study results mixed with items obtained from the literature. Then, psychometric characteristics of the instrument, including content validity, face validity, internal consistency, and stability, were assessed. Cronbach's alpha, intra-class correlation coefficient, and kappa were assessed using SPSS Software v.21.

The primary question pool included 52 questions, which decreased to 33 after assessing the content validity index and ratio. The instrument's overall scale content validity index was 0.96. The internal consistency reliability of the attitude scale was calculated as 0.87. The kappa coefficient values for familiarity/unfamiliarity with functional dairy products and their consumption/non-consumption ranged 0.61–1. Intraclass correlation coefficient values ranged 0.69–1 for the frequency of functional dairy consumption, 0.73–0.86 for the degree of importance of product characteristics in affecting consumer choices, and 0.83–0.92 for the consumer views for the information on functional dairy products. The intraclass correlation coefficient for the attitude towards these products was 0.92, indicating the high test-retest reliability of the instrument.

The questionnaire designed in this study was a valid reliable instrument that could assess various factors affecting the consumption of functional dairy products and consumer preferences concerning these products.

Functional foods' market is growing steadily worldwide and new products are introduced to the market continuously. The development of functional foods requires knowledge of factors influencing their acceptance. Due to the information gap in this field in Iran, the present study aimed to identify the facilitating factors affecting functional dairy products' consumption from the viewpoint of stakeholders in Tehran. This qualitative study was conducted using a social marketing approach. Data were collected via eight focus group discussions and 40 in-depth interviews between May and September 2014. In total, 105 people participated in this qualitative research, including 10 stakeholders in production field, 9 stakeholders in supply field, 21 influencing stakeholders, and 65 women consumers (44 housewives and 21 employed women). Participants were selected by purposeful sampling technique with maximum diversity, and snowball sampling was used to identify key stakeholders. Data collection and directed content analysis were performed simultaneously using MAXQDA® software. Based on the results, the facilitating factors affecting functional dairy products' consumption were categorized in five main groups: i) factors related to product, including two subthemes – sensory and non-sensory characteristics; ii) price, including two subthemes – physical and economic accessibility; iii) place of the product supply; iv) promotion strategies, including five subthemes – informing, educating, recommending by friends, professionals and others, advertising, and supporting the production, as social marketing mix, and v) factors related to consumer as a new dimension, which included five subthemes – adequate knowledge, socio-demographic characteristics, positive attitude to the product, food taste, and food preferences. The findings of this study can be a source of valuable information for designing effective interventions to increase the consumption of functional dairy products in the community