Loneliness among Elderly People: Can Food and Meals Change this Situation? (original) (raw)
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The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 2015
Objective: Nutrition service providers are seeking alternative delivery models to control costs and meet the growing need for home-delivered meals. The objective of this study was to evaluate the extent to which the home-delivered meals program, and the type of delivery model, reduces homebound older adults' feelings of loneliness. Methods: This project utilizes data from a three-arm, fixed randomized control study conducted with 626 seniors on waiting lists at eight Meals on Wheels programs across the United States. Seniors were randomly assigned to either (i) receive daily meal delivery; (ii) receive once-weekly meal delivery; or (iii) remain on the waiting list. Participants were surveyed at baseline and again at 15 weeks. Analysis of covariance was used to test for differences in loneliness between groups, over time and logistic regression was used to assess differences in self-rated improvement in loneliness. Results: Participants receiving meals had lower adjusted loneliness scores at follow-up compared with the control group. Individuals who received daily-delivered meals were more likely to self-report that home-delivered meals improved their loneliness than the group receiving once-weekly delivered meals. Discussion: This article includes important implications for organizations that provide home-delivered meals in terms of cost, delivery modality, and potential recipient benefits.
Eating Alone or Together among Community-Living Older People—A Scoping Review
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Research on healthy aging commonly concerns problems related to loneliness and food intake. These are not independent aspects of health since eating, beyond its biological necessity, is a central part of social life. This scoping review aimed to map scientific articles on eating alone or together among community-living older people, and to identify relevant research gaps. Four databases were searched, 989 articles were identified and 98 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. In the first theme, eating alone or together are treated as central topics of interest, isolated from adjoining, broader concepts such as social participation. In the second, eating alone or together are one aspect of the findings, e.g., one of several risk factors for malnutrition. Findings confirm the significance of commensality in older peoples’ life. We recommend future research designs allowing identification of causal relationships, using refined ways of measuring meals alone or together, and qualitative metho...
Older Adults—Their Focus on Food and Future Living: A Grounded Theory Approach
The Qualitative Report, 2020
Older adults, also known as the silver generation, are the new healthy generation. This generation has for many decades formed the basis for the prosperity found in Norway. The ageing population is growing rapidly in many countries around the world. The aim of this paper is to understand healthy active older adults’ interpretations of food and meals and their focus on food and future living. Nine CurroCus® group interviews, or fast focus groups, were conducted, lasting 37 to 56 minutes with an average of 45 minutes. Altogether, 76 persons from both genders participated, with an age span of 60 to 87 years, although participants were predominantly female (80%). The main findings indicated that older adults expect good overall experiences at nursing homes, including food and drink with good standards adapted to the individual’s needs and smaller apartments with common rooms for activities; they also actively use technology in their everyday lives. Future research should focus on areas ...
How Do I Fulfill My Nutrition: The Experience of Older Adults Who Live Alone
Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development
The barriers to living alone get bigger when older adults get older. One of them is being unable to fulfill their nutritional needs. Older adults who live alone must be able to fulfill nutritional needs, personal hygiene and health independently. This research was conducted to describe experience of older adults who live alone to fulfill their nutritional needs in Magetan, East Java. The methodology employed was a phenomenological qualitative design. We conducted in-depth interviews with seven older adults who live alone. The data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Six themes emerged as the strategy to get ingredient and food were cooked by self, bought from the seller, collected from farm; the barriers to fulfilling nutritional needs were getting old, disease and financial insufficiency. To fulfill the nutritional needs is a challenge for older adults, especially when they get sick. So, they need support from family, neighbors, and government to overcome the barrier. It is expected to be a consideration in policies regarding monitoring programs of the condition of older adults who live alone.
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.
Loneliness Among Elderly Living at Home
2012
Previous researches have proven that, 39% of elderly who live in the community in Finland experience loneliness at least sometimes. But these researches have focused more on the community as a whole but not specifically at home. Today´s policy for care of the elderly is aimed at making them to live in their own homes for as long as possible. But loneliness has been identify as one of the barriers that affect their independent living.. The main aim of this study is to identify and describe the factors associated with the experience of loneliness among 75+ elderly who live at home in Finland while the second aim is to identify some interventions that could alleviate this feeling. Method Literature review is the method that has been used to carry out this study. The data collected was analyzed using qualitative content analysis Results The results show that there are many factors that are associated with the experience of loneliness among this age group. The main findings were grouped under four main categories namely demographic factors, social factors, Health factors and selfreported causes or factors. The intervention measure used for the alleviation of loneliness among this group of individuals was also categories into two main headings namely, group and individual interventions. Conclusion Loneliness exist and it is a problem among elderly who live at home and there are many caused that make elderly prune to this experience some of which cannot be avoided by the elderly themselves but there are also many available interventions that can alleviate this problem. And if this problem it kept under control, the elderly can live in their homes for as long as possible.
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.
Understanding loneliness in the lived experiences of Iranian elders
Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 2010
Understanding loneliness in the lived experiences of Iranian elders Elderly people are especially vulnerable to loneliness. Loneliness as an important phenomenon is correlated with a variety of emotional, physical and health-related complications. However, a few studies have investigated the experience of loneliness from the perspectives of elderly people living in communities. The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of Iranian elders of loneliness. A qualitative study using phenomenological approach was employed with four men and nine women living in their own houses. In-depth interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using hermeneutic methods. The emerged themes were 'an aversive emotional state', 'isolated from intimate relationships', 'being deprived from social and external support systems' and 'being abused and neglected'. Our study findings support the view that the experience of loneliness creates an aversive emotional state which is associated with negative and painful feelings. In addition, it was revealed that lack of access to intimate relationships and supportive systems as well as the experience of being abused and neglected were major factors contributing to the feelings of loneliness among Iranian elders. In terms of recommendation for practice, worldwide nurses are expected to be knowledgeable about the factors which increase feelings of loneliness. Alternatively, they should develop coping mechanisms among elders with the cooperation of their family members; also, attract community attention in order to improve social services in both quality and quantity.
Consensus statement: loneliness in older adults, the 21st century social determinant of health?
BMJ Open
ObjectiveThe purpose of this consensus statement is to determine the state of the field of loneliness among older people, highlighting key issues for researchers, policymakers and those designing services and interventions.MethodsIn December 2018, an international meeting on loneliness was held in Belfast with leaders from across the USA and Europe. A summary of the conclusions reached at this event is presented following a consensus-building exercise conducted both during this event after each presentation as well as after the event through the drafting, reviewing and agreement of this statement by all authors for over 6 months.ResultsThis meeting resulted in an agreement to produce a consensus statement on key issues including definitions of loneliness, measurement, antecedents, consequences and interventions.DiscussionThere has been an exponential growth in research on loneliness among older adults. However, differing measurements and definitions of loneliness mean the incidence ...