More Than A Meal? A Randomized Control Trial Comparing the Effects of Home-Delivered Meals Programs on Participants’ Feelings of Loneliness (original) (raw)
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Congregate Nutrition Programs Can Alleviate Loneliness and Isolation
2004
Aging where she coordinates the Elderly Nutrition Program by working with local Area Agencies on Aging. Her background includes working in nursing home administration, hospital patient relations and marketing in Virginia, New York, and Pennsylvania. She has a Master of Health Services Administration with a concentration in management of long-term care services from George Washington University. Educational Objectives 1. Familiarize readers with the Older Americans Act congregate nutrition services provided to community-residing older adults. 2. Demonstrate how congregate nutrition services can alleviate isolation and loneliness in communityresiding older adults.
Working With Older People, 2021
Purpose Meals on Wheel Central Texas (MOWCTX) provides meals to more than 5,000 home-bound older adults in the Austin area every weekday. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of client-volunteer interactions to assess the social benefits clients receive and ascertain if and how loneliness and social isolation are addressed. Design/methodology/approach Observations of volunteer-client interactions, interviews with clients and surveys of clients were conducted to gain insight into clients’ experiences with MOWCTX services. Findings Qualitative analysis of observation and interview data revealed four non-tangible benefits clients received from MOWCTX: reduced physical risks when mobility issues are present, a daily safety check, opportunities for social contact and increased ability to maintain independence. Survey results supported these conclusions. Originality/value This research examines the impact of volunteer-client relationships on the experience of loneliness and social isolation.
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Older adults and those living in rural areas face unique challenges to health and food security which were exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examine the interrelationships among food security, physical health, and loneliness among rural older adults before the onset of and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from a cross-sectional household survey of older adults in rural Indiana, administered May 2020 through July 2020, our results show a higher prevalence of food insecurity, poorer physical health, and increased loneliness after the onset of the pandemic. Path analyses confirmed the interrelationship between food security, health, and the absence of loneliness before and after the onset of COVID-19. Loneliness emerged as a major pathway through which the pandemic impacted quality of life, particularly affecting older women and physical health. Policy initiatives should consider the unique experiences and challenges associated with rural life among older adults and ...
Adequacy of and Satisfaction with Delivery and Use of Home-Delivered Meals
Journal of Nutrition For the Elderly, 2010
For home-delivered meals to have a beneficial impact on older persons, it is important that both delivery of services and use by older persons are adequate. From November 2004 to February 2005, we conducted a random-sample telephone survey of 1505 New York City home-delivered meals recipients, asking them about adequacy of and satisfaction with delivery of services and use of meal services. Fourteen percent of recipients relied solely on program food. Two-thirds prepared other foods themselves. Consumption of fruit, vegetables, and milk was low; 14-20% of recipients consumed each of these less than 1 time per day. Most recipients saw (and about half talked with) the meal deliverer most of the time. Most could contact the meal provider agency, but had not done so. A second stratified sample of 500 meal recipients was surveyed in June 2006 regarding satisfaction with food packaging and labels, food acquisition, meal delivery, and meal variety. About three-fourths of recipients reported satisfaction most of the time with the meals in terms of taste, variety, ease of preparation, healthfulness, and fit to religious or cultural needs. The most satisfied recipients were those who were receiving hot meals, food-secure, without hearing problems, frailer, in better emotional health, with informal social support, and more religious.
Nutrition Bulletin, 2022
The present study aimed at exploring associations among meal-related behaviour, social engagement factors, satisfaction with food-related life (SWFL) to assess food-related wellbeing and subjective wellbeing in Danish older adults living alone. Three hundred and eighty-eight older adults aged 65-75 years from six Danish municipalities completed an online or article-based survey addressing home cooking, commensality, loneliness, SWFL and subjective wellbeing. Home cooking frequency and self-perceived cooking skills were positively associated with SWFL but not with subjective wellbeing. Commensality was positively associated with SWFL but was not associated with subjective wellbeing. The level of loneliness was negatively associated with SWFL and with subjective wellbeing. Satisfaction with food-related life and subjective health status were positively associated with subjective wellbeing. Male and female respondents did not differ in meal-related behaviour, social engagement factors, SWFL and wellbeing. While the cross-sectional nature of this study does not allow for the direction of causality to be determined, these results suggest that older adults living alone could benefit from a higher frequency of home-cooked meals, a higher level of self-perceived cooking skills and commensality to support SWFL. A higher level of SWFL could, in turn, lead to a higher level of wellbeing.
Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism
Nutrition risk is linked to hospitalization, frailty, depression, and death. Loneliness during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have heightened nutrition risk. We sought to determine prevalence of high nutrition risk and whether loneliness, mental health, and assistance with meal preparation/delivery were associated with risk in community-dwelling older adults (65+ years) after the first wave of COVID-19 in association analyses and when adjusting for meaningful covariates. Data were collected from 12 May 2020 to 19 August 2020. Descriptive statistics, association analyses, and linear regression analyses were conducted. For our total sample of 272 participants (78 ± 7.3 years old, 70% female), the median Seniors in the Community: Risk evaluation for Eating and Nutrition (SCREEN-8) score (nutrition risk) was 35 [1st quartile, 3rd quartile: 29, 40], and 64% were at high risk (SCREEN-8 < 38). Fifteen percent felt lonely two or more days a week. Loneliness and meal...