A Study on the Meal Assistance and Nutrition Knowledge of Caregivers for the Elderly in Nursing Homes

ABSTRACT

This study attempted to examine the nutrition knowledge of caregivers for the elderly and the diet-related medical treatment and dietary assistance given by them. Thus, this research is a descriptive study focusing on the current nutritional knowledge of caregivers and the dietary assistance given by them. The survey included a questionnaire (nutritional knowledge level of digestive system diseases, diabetes, cardiovascular risk, brain disease, bone disease, and meal assistance performance status) for caregivers working in nursing homes for the elderly. Self-administered questionnaires were completed by 235 caregivers between February and March 2020. The results were analyzed using the SPSS 25.0, and the significance test of each question was verified by the Friedman test and the Chi-square independence test. The number of elderly people who needed meal assistance from caregivers was 4.4 more than the average. The most common types of meal assistance were partial assistance (59.20%) and the task of when to stop eating for the elderly (58.71%). Besides, the higher nutritional knowledge level of the caregivers, the more the time spent on services related to meal assistance (P＜0.001), and the higher the meal assistance level. The disease state of the elderly was considered the most relevant (P＜0.001). Caregivers with high levels of knowledge and offering significant meal assistance were found to have received nutrition education (P＜0.001). Up to 80% of the respondents needed nutrition education, and most of them answered that they needed education on appropriate management methods for the specific disease state of the elderly (P＜0.01). Accordingly, providing nutrition education for caregivers for the elderly should be a means to improve their ability to offer meal assistance.