|
The health food store is a newly emerged commercial
institution in Taiwan, but rarely has this health-
related institution been empirically examined. This study
integrates qualitative and quantitative approaches to : (1)
describe the development and the current feature of health
food stores in Taipei city ,and (2) to examine the health
food store proprietors'' beliefs of foods, health, and health
food movement, and their motives to involved a “health -food
business” (3)to explore the functions and roles of health
food stores, and (4) to explore the image of health food store
as seen by citizens. Data for this study came from a participant
observation in a health food store in the downtown of Taipei
city：(1)In-depth interview of 17 health food store''s
proprietors. (2)telephone survey of 400 citizens 20 to
65 years of age in Taipei city. The major findings of the study
were: 1.Compared with traditional food
stores, health food stores are unique in their names,
location, styple of displaying goods, space arrangement,
products, marketing strategies and types of
costomers. The health food store is not only a commercial
institution but also a health setting. While the proprietors
interviewed did not emphasize the profit-making of
their business, the rapid growth and wide spread of the
stores, as indicated by these proprietors, evidenced the
potential commercial prosperity of this enterprise.
business from the health food store in Taiwan. 2.The
proprietors greatly emphasized the non-commercial activites of
the stores, mainly promoting healthy diet and sense
of environmental protection through workshops and
lectures, and other health education programs. In addition to
training and education, the relationships among community
citizens were improved and the interactions of stores
and communities increased accordingly.
3.The noncommercial ideas and dietary beliefs of the proprietors
prompted their multiple roles. As dietary
consultants, advocates of environmentalism, or promoters of
new diet culture, the proprietors'' special beliefs, ideas and
knowledge had great influences on their customers.
4.The results of telephone survey showed that 45.4% of the
participants have heard about health food stores
before. Most of citizens interviewed gave a positive
evaluation on this type of stores: 43.2% thought that the stores
were beneficial to people''s health and 51.8% valued the
environmentalist ideas of the stores. The overall perceptions
of the participants were congruent with the descriptions from
store proprietors -- characterizing the citizens''
positive image of health food stores. The rise and
development of the health food stores indicates peoples'' needs
of alternative health care in addition to services
provided by the formal health care system.The public health
professionals should be aware of the pluralistic beliefs lay
people had and practices they engaged in their daily life health
promotion. Research and policy implications of this study
were suggested.
|