Healthy community-dwelling older adults’ experience with a nutritional educational intervention: A feasibility study
Jon Arild Aakre MHS*, Lise Birgitte Austbø Holteng MHS, Ingelin Testad PhD
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AbstractBackground: Considerable growth in the older adult population is expected worldwide and a large part of this population will be living at home, responsible for their own nutritional behavior and health. Educational nutritional interventions targeting malnutrition in this group have been found effective in increasing nutritional status, but a better understanding of the feasibility and which components a nutritional intervention for older adults should include is needed.
Objective: (1) To conduct a health-promoting and disease-preventing nutritional educational intervention with a theoretical, practical, and digital aspect aimed at healthy community-dwelling older adults; and (2) To evaluate and describe its feasibility through the participants' experience with the intervention.
Method: Three focus group interviews were conducted, using a semi-structured interview guide including 16 participants who attended a multi-component educational nutritional intervention. The focus group interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed ad verbatim then subsequently analysed using systematic text condensation. On day one of the two-day multicomponent intervention, the participants received lectures on nutrition and health-related content, and subsequently followed up with group discussions. On day two, they received a cooking class from a chef and an introduction to a nutritional tracking app.
Results: Three main categories emerged from the analysis of the focus group interviews: (I) Learning environment; (II) content of the intervention; (III) increased nutritional awareness. The participants found the content of the theoretical presentations useful, interesting, and transmissible to their everyday life. However, for some of the participants, the language used was too scientific. A cooking session with a chef was valued as inspirational and the participants were left with ideas and motivation. Being introduced to a digital dietary tool was viewed as valuable, however, the participants did not use the app in their everyday life, as it was too time-consuming.
Conclusion: The results suggest that the duration and the combination of both a theoretical and practical approach in a two-day multi-component educational nutritional intervention for older adults are desirable. The intervention led to increased nutritional awareness and some nutritional behavioural changes in the participants, suggesting the intervention be feasible. However, the potential for optimizing aspects such as facilitation, delivery, and content dissemination in the future educational nutritional intervention is highlighted.Keywords: nutrition, intervention, community-dwelling, older adults
Jon Arild Aakre MHS*, Lise Birgitte Austbø Holteng MHS, Ingelin Testad PhD (2023). Healthy community-dwelling older adults’ experience with a nutritional educational intervention: A feasibility study. Gerontechnology, 22(1), 1-8
https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2023.22.1.825.06