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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Food provision for older people receiving home care from the perspectives of home-care workers | | Author(s) | Anna Watkinson-Powell, Sarah Barnes, Melanie Lovall |
| Journal title | Health and Social Care in the Community, vol 22, no 5, September 2014 |
| Publisher | Wiley Blackwell, September 2014 |
| Pages | pp 553-560 |
| Source | wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hsc |
| Keywords | Nutrition ; Meals services ; Home care services ; Attitude ; Care support workers ; Qualitative Studies ; Northern England. |
| Annotation | Malnutrition is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly among older people. Attention has focused on the inadequacies of food provision in institutions, yet the majority suffering from malnutrition live in the community. This qualitative study explores barriers and facilitators to food provision for older people receiving home care. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine home-care workers employed by independent agencies in a large city in northern England in June 2013. Data were analysed thematically, based on the principles of grounded theory. Findings showed that significant time pressures limited home-care workers in their ability to socially engage with service users at mealtimes, or provide them with anything other than ready meals. Enabling choice was considered more important than providing a healthy diet, but choice was limited by food availability and reliance on families for shopping. Home-care workers received little nutritional training and were not involved by healthcare professionals in the management of malnutrition. Despite the rhetoric of individual choice and the importance of social engagement and nutrition for health and well-being, nutritional care has been significantly compromised by cuts to social care budgets. The potential role for home-care workers in promoting good nutrition in older people is undervalued and undermined by the lack of recognition, training and time dedicated to food-related care. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-150522255 A |
| Classmark | CF: NR: NH: DP: QRS: 3DP: 82N |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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