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Ontario Older-Adult Programs: Self-Identified Interest in and Resources for Nutritional Risk Screening*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2010

Heather H. Keller  and
Jacqueline Allen
Heather H. Keller*
Affiliation:
University of Guelph
Jacqueline Allen
Affiliation:
University of Guelph
*
Requests for offprints should be sent to: / Les demandes de tirés-a-part doivent être adressées à : Dr. Heather H. Keller, R.D., Ph.D., Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1. [email protected]
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Abstract

Older-adult community programs are significant partners in the identification of need and delivery of health care for seniors. At present there is no systematic screening for nutritional risk in Ontario, and the interest and resources of community programs to screen is unknown. From three Ontario organizational membership lists, 200 programs were randomly selected; 136 key informants completed and returned the survey. A diverse sample of programs was included. Most were providing some form of nutrition programming, with the most common being meal provision. Two thirds (67.7%) were collecting some form of nutrition information: 56.4 per cent had an assessment questionnaire with nutrition information, and 21.8 per cent had clients subjectively assess their own nutritional risk. Most providers were interested in the nutritional health of their clients, and over half were interested in formally screening for nutritional risk. Barriers to screening were also identified. It is clear that nutrition is an area of priority for community programs and that nutrition screening is desired. Barriers to ethical screening need to be addressed prior to implementation of a systematic screening program.

Résumé

Les programmes communautaires destinés aux personnes âgées sont des partenaires importants à l'identification des besoins et la livraison des soins de santé à ce groupe d'âge. En ce moment, il n'y a aucun dépistage systématique de risque alimentaire en Ontario. De même, l'intérêt et les ressources de ces programmes communautaires en matière de dépistage sont inconnus. À partir de trois listes de membres d'organismes ontariens, 200 programmes ont été choisis au hasard ; 136 personnes clés ont répondu au questionnaire et parmi les répondants, un échantillon varié de programmes y figurait. La majorité offrait un programme alimentaire quelconque. La prestation de repas est la composant la plus fréquente. Jusqu'à un certain point, deux-tiers (67,7 %) des organismes recueillaient des données au sujet de l'alimentation : 56,4 % des organismes détenaient un questionnaire de prélèvement comprenant des renseignements au sujet de l'alimentation et 21,8 % des organismes comprenaient des clients qui auto-évaluaient leurs risques alimentaires. La majorité des prestataires s'intéressaient à la santé alimentaire de leur clientèle et plus de la moitié des organismes désiraient adopter un dépistage formel de risque alimentaire. Les obstacles au dépistage ont aussi été identifiés. Il est évident que pour les programmes communautaires, l'alimentation est un domaine prioritaire et le dépistage alimentaire est souhaitable. Toutefois, les obstacles au dépistage moral doivent être abordés avant la mise en oeuvre d'un programme de dépistage systématique.

Keywords

agingseniorsnutritionscreeningservice providersvieillissementpersonnes âgéesalimentationdépistageprestataires de service
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , Winter/Hiver 2002 , pp. 587 - 594
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2002

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Footnotes

*

The authors wish to thank VON, OCSA, and OACAO for their assistance with the survey, research assistant Sarah Fielden, and the senior service providers who participated in the survey.

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