Absence of Nutritional or Clinical Consequences of Decentralized Bulk Food Portioning in Elderly Nursing Home Residents with Dementia in Montreal
Section snippets
Study Setting and Sample
The study took place in a 125-bed public nursing home attached to a university-affiliated geriatric hospital in Montreal. Average age of residents was 82 years, and 70% were cognitively impaired, most due to AD. All 34 residents living on one floor of the nursing home were invited to participate in the study. A nurse known to the residents and their families was responsible for recruitment and obtained informed consent from the residents’ families or other legal representative or from the
Results
Of the 34 residents on the study floor, 25 (or their legal representative) agreed to participate (74%). After the preintroduction data collection period, 2 residents were withdrawn because of illness and 1 person died; the final sample consisted of 22 persons (65% of the total population on the study floor). Participant characteristics are presented in Table 1. Data for the sole man are presented with those of the 21 women. Mean age was 82 years and more than 80% were older than 75 years
Discussion
To assess the impact of introducing a decentralized bulk food distribution system on indicators of nutritional status, anthropometric measurements were taken and biochemical analyses were conducted at 2 data collection periods in 22 elderly nursing home residents with dementia. Validated food consumption data were also obtained at both times, and nutrient values were calculated. Residents’ energy and nutrient intakes increased substantially, whereas, on average, anthropometric and clinical
Applications/Conclusions
A decentralized food portioning system in a nursing home led to greater food consumption by residents, but it had no impact on the nutritional status parameters evaluated.
■ Serving food from the bulk food cart in the dining room can offer elderly residents with dementia positive stimulation arising from the organoleptic properties of the foods themselves, such as enticing odor, or from being served foods at the appropriate temperature. The activity surrounding preparation of residents’ plates,
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2015, Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and DieteticsNutritional status and dietary intake of institutionalized elderly in Turkey: A cross-sectional, multi-center, country representative study
2015, Archives of Gerontology and GeriatricsCitation Excerpt :Good nutritional status in old age is critical for maintenance of health and quality of life. Poor nutritional status however is the most powerful indicator of morbidity and mortality in institutionalized elderly (Shatenstein & Ferland, 2000). In the elderly it is crucial to screen nutritional status for preventing malnutrition and early detecting it (Arslan & Rakıcıoğlu, 2004).
Improving food and fluid intake for older adults living in long-term care: A research agenda
2015, Journal of the American Medical Directors AssociationImproving meal context in nursing homes. Impact of four strategies on food intake and meal pleasure
2015, AppetiteCitation Excerpt :However, a limited number of studies have quantified the impact of contextual improvement on food intake and/or on the nutritional status of institutionalized people (Abbott et al., 2013). Some of them focused on the effectiveness of a single change such as providing smaller portions (Cluskey & Dunton, 1999), switching from a prepared tray to a bulk service (Shatenstein & Ferland, 2000), having the staff share the meals with the residents (Charras & Frémontier, 2010), enhancing the colour contrast of the crockery that food was served on (Dunne, Neargarder, Cipolloni, & Cronin-Golomb, 2004), improving lighting (Brush, 2002) or diffusing music in the dining room (Ragneskog, Brane, Karlsson, & Kihlgren, 1996; Thomas & Smith, 2009). Six studies assessed large-scale changes which mainly aimed at shifting the dining room from an institutional appearance to more home-like setting (Table 1).
Effectiveness of mealtime interventions on nutritional outcomes for the elderly living in residential care: A systematic review and meta-analysis
2013, Ageing Research ReviewsCitation Excerpt :In four smaller studies of residents with dementia, little evidence of changes in body weight were observed with either introduction of bulk food service (Desai et al., 2007) or with provision of more accessible (Soltesz and Dayton, 1995) or more familiar foods (Young et al., 2005). However in both the bulk food service interventions (Shatenstein and Ferland, 2000; Desai et al., 2007) weight increased by 0.5–1.5 kg when compared to usual tray service, although the results were not significant at the 5% level. Although the data prohibited formal meta-analysis, the reported effects on food intake were more uniform.