Serving Nutritional Needs of Older Adults

The United States has experienced significant increases in the older adult population. This increase is expected to affect social services and the health care system. In order to combat the burden this may place on our current system, researchers have increased efforts toward understanding the needs of older adults. Research has indicated that nutritional risk can pose greater health problems for older adults and has been significantly correlated with depression and socioeconomic status. In order to address some of these issues, congregate meals and meal delivery programs have been developed to assist older adults to age in place. The purpose of this study was to take a closer look at current nutrition programs offered through the Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency (KIPDA), which serves a seven county region in Kentucky.

Secondary data collected annually, from 2012 to 2014, was obtained from KIPDA. The sample consisted of 148 individuals that had received meal services from KIPDA in their Congregate, Home Daily Delivery and Frozen Weekly nutritional programs. Scales used for this study were the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), UCLA Three-Item Loneliness Scale, and a combination of the KATZ Activities of Daily Living Scale and the Lawton Independence in Activities of Daily Living Scale (IADL/ADL).

This analysis fits in line with current literature regarding nutritional programming for older adults. As expected, individuals in the Congregate programs had significantly higher IADL/ADL combined scores, lower GDS depression scores and lower loneliness scores. Individuals in the Daily delivery scored lower on IADL/ADL and higher on the GDS and loneliness scales then those in the Frozen delivery program. Thus individuals in the Frozen meal program were able to care for personal daily living needs but were more depressed and lonelier then those in the daily delivery program.

Additionally, IADL/ADL mean scores were reviewed for the pre, post, and follow-up time period for participants in the Congregate and Daily delivery programs. Individuals enrolled in the Congregate program steadily increased across all time intervals while individuals enrolled in the Daily delivery program improved from the pre to post, however, remained the same from post to follow-up. Anecdotally, one would assume that since these individuals are older adults, their IADL/ADL scores would decrease overtime, but the data suggests that for those in the Congregate program there is improvement, and those in the Daily delivery program are remaining roughly the same.

Nutritional programs, such as the ones provides through KIPDA, have contributed to the accessibility of nutritional food for the aging in place population of older adults. The KIPDA program addresses the nutritional needs of these older adults but there is still a need to address psycho-social needs such as depression and loneliness. Further research should focus on the longitudinal data associated with the programs. This would provide more information about the overall effectiveness of the nutritional programs adding individuals aging in place. Additional research could concentrate on the creation of interventions to address their psycho-social needs.