Research on many of these
topics has been ongoing at the University, but has generally
been coordinated through a single Department. At a recent round
table discussion among faculty from Psychology, Human Development,
and Nutrition, the importance of cross-disciplinary training
and research teams became evident. For example, nutrition faculty
assessing the dietary intakes and health outcomes of low-income
older adults reported that many elderly individuals restricted
their food intake because of limited resources, insufficient
nutrition information and unexpected reasons, such as body image
concerns related to being overweight. The results of this work
could have been made even richer if an interdisciplinary perspective
that integrated the behavioral/psychological, social, medical
and nutritional sciences had been employed.
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