Assessment of the Dietary Intake of Recovering Alcoholics and the Difference in Self-Efficacy of Recovering Alcoholics with Respect to Gender and Weight
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ASSESSMENT OF THE DIETARY INTAKE OF RECOVERING ALCOHOLICS AND THE DIFFERENCE IN SELF-EFFICACY OF RECOVERING ALCOHOLICS WITH RESPECT TO GENDER AND WEIGHT A thesis submitted to the Kent State University College and Graduate School of Education, Health, and Human Services in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science By Michelle Palcsik December 2013 . Thesis written by Michelle Palcsik B.S., Kent State University, 2009 M.S., Kent State University, 2013 Approved by ____________________, Director, Master’s Thesis Committee Natalie Caine-Bish ____________________, Member, Master’s Thesis Committee Karen Lowry Gordon ____________________, Member, Master’s Thesis Committee Laurie Wagner Accepted by ____________________, Director, School of Health Sciences Lynne Rowan ____________________, Dean, College of Education, Health and Human Services Daniel F. Mahony ii PALCSIK, MICHELLE, M.S., DECEMBER 2013 Health Sciences ASSESSMENT OF THE DIETARY INTAKE OF RECOVERING ALCOHOLICS AND THE DIFFERENCE IN SELF-EFFICACY OF RECOVERING ALCOHOLICS WITH RESPECT TO GENDER AND WEIGHT STATUS (111 pp) Director of Thesis: Natalie Caine-Bish, Ph.D., R.D., L.D. The purpose of this study was to determine the dietary intake of recovering alcoholics and the difference in self-efficacy of recovering alcoholics with respect to gender and weight. The patients at Glenbeigh, a not for profit drug and alcohol rehabilitation specialty hospital, who qualified for this study, received three surveys from the intake specialist. The surveys consisted of the Harvard Food Frequency Questionnaire (Harvard, 2007), a food craving questionnaire and a general self-efficacy questionnaire (Schwatzer, n.d.). Means, standard deviations and an independent t-test were used to determine if there were any differences. There was no significant difference in the nutritional value of recovering alcoholics with low self-efficacy versus high self-efficacy. However, there was a significant difference in the nutritional value of recovering alcoholics with a normal weight status (BMI: 18.5-24.9) versus an overweight/obese weight status (BMI: 25 and above) and there was no significant difference in the nutritional value of recovering alcoholics between men and women. These findings suggest that further research is needed to establish a better connection of how dietary intake is affected by these variables. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would have never been able to complete my thesis without the guidance of committee members, help from friends and support from my family and boyfriend. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis advisor, Dr. Natalie Caine-Bish for all her help and support throughout my thesis and college journey. She was very supportive, caring and patient during the research process. Additionally, I would like to thank Dr. Karen Lowry Gordon and Laurie Wagner for their time and suggestions made to my thesis. I would also like to thank Terri Ball and Samantha Ruffo from Glenbeigh Hospital for taking the time and commitment to help me with this research. This study could not have been completed without their assistance and extreme diligence. I would also like to express my appreciation to all of the patients at Glenbeigh hospital who took the time to complete the surveys. I would like to thank my former bosses, Dino Palmieri and Nancy Haimes from Palmieri Enterprise, for their support and flexibility throughout my college career. Their advice and encouragement has been invaluable on both an academic and personal level, for which I am extremely grateful. Finally, I would like to express my love and gratitude to my loved ones; for their understanding and endless love, throughout the duration of my studies. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................. vii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the Problem .........................................................................................4 Purpose Statement ...................................................................................................5 Hypotheses ...............................................................................................................5 Operational Definitions ............................................................................................5 II REVIEW OF LITERATURE ..................................................................................9 Alcohol and its Effect on the Body ..........................................................................9 What is Alcohol?..........................................................................................9 Dietary Guidelines for Alcohol ..............................................................................10 Epidemiology of Alcohol Consumption ....................................................10 Alcohol Metabolism...................................................................................12 Alcohol and Weight Gain ..........................................................................13 Alcohol and its Effect on the Brain ........................................................................14 Alcohol and Dopamine ..............................................................................14 Alcohol and Brain Activity ........................................................................16 An Alcoholic’s Brain Recovery during Alcohol Abstinence ....................17 Alcoholism and Brain Metabolism ............................................................17 Alcoholism .............................................................................................................18 Alcohol Addiction ......................................................................................18 Difference between an alcoholic and a Social Drinker ..............................19 The Genetics of Alcohol Metabolism and the Predisposition of Alcoholism .................................................................................................19 Alcoholic Characteristics and Behavior.................................................................21 Characteristics and Behaviors an Alcoholic will suffer from ....................22 Gender Differences in Alcohol Addiction .............................................................23 Physiological Differences between Men and Women ...............................23 Gender Differences in Body Fat Among Alcoholics .................................24 Vulnerability of Alcoholism between Genders..........................................25 iv Gender Differences between Moderate and Excessive Drinking ..............26 Alcohol and Nutrition ............................................................................................26 Alcoholics Food Consumption in Relation to Dietary Guidelines ............26 Nutritional Deficiencies in Alcoholics ...................................................................28 Metabolic Consequences of Alcohol Consumption ...................................28 Liver Disease .........................................................................................................29 Hepatic Steatosis ........................................................................................30 Alcoholic Hepatitis ....................................................................................30 Alcoholic Cirrhosis ....................................................................................31 Malnutrition in the Alcoholic.....................................................................31 Vitamin Deficiencies .................................................................................32 Thiamin ......................................................................................................33 Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome .................................................................33 Folate..........................................................................................................34 Nutrition Therapy for Alcoholics ...........................................................................35 Alcoholic Liver Disease .............................................................................35 Diagnosis of Alcoholic Liver Disease .......................................................35 Treatment of Alcoholic Liver Disease .......................................................36 Self-efficacy ...........................................................................................................37 Definition and Explanation of Self-efficacy ..............................................37 Nutrition and Self-efficacy ........................................................................38 Self-efficacy in a Recovering Alcoholic ....................................................38 III METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................40 Research Design.....................................................................................................40 Participants .............................................................................................................40