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Family Members' Preferences for Nutrition Interventions to Improve Nursing Home Residents' Oral Food and Fluid Intake Sandra F. Simmons, Helene Y. Lam, Geetha Rao, and John F. Schnelle, 2003, in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society; 51:69-74. What nutrition interventions do family members prefer for their relatives at risk for undernutrition and weight loss who reside in nursing homes? Given a choice of six possible interventions, the 105 resident representatives, mostly family members, who completed this study's written questionnaire, rated them, in order of preference, as follows: Improve quality of food Improve quality of feeding assistance Provide multiple small meals and snacks throughout the day Place resident in preferred dining location Provide oral liquid nutritional supplements Provide an appetite stimulant medication These findings indicate a clear preference among residents' significant others for behavioral and environmental approaches over the use of supplements or pharmacological approaches to improve food and fluid intake. The authors point out that resident preferences could not be assessed directly in this study due to the questionnaire's complex design, but future studies should attempt to correct this shortcoming. Back to list | Next study

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