Nutrition and Mealtime Provisions for Persons with Dementia: Investigating Caregiver Needs

Caregiver needs at mealtime for person(s) with dementia (PWD) is an under researched and underrepresented topic even though there are roughly 16 million family members or friends in America assuming a caregiver role for a PWD. The literature focuses on mealtime provisions for PWD in institutional settings with little to no attention given to many caregivers for PWD who provide care in the home. The purpose of this project was to develop a presentation to address the needs of caregivers for PWD specific to mealtime care and nutrition knowledge gaps. Results from the pre-survey were analyzed and suggested that caregivers look to employ certain strategies for experienced mealtime challenges but lack helpful information resources. The presentation was based on the results from a pre-survey inquiring about caregiver needs and knowledge gaps from a sample participating in the Utah Geriatric Education Consortium Alzheimer's and Related Dementias education program. The presentation was then developed by performing targeted research of the main topics of interest that arose from those results. A post-survey was then given to the presentation attendees to evaluate the usefulness of the presentation information and to offer feedback. Outcomes of this post-survey analysis indicated that most of the respondents' felt that the presentation information was very helpful and that future mealtime approaches will be impacted based on two topics discussed in the presentation: mealtime strategies and limiting unhealthy foods and/or substituting with healthy foods. This feedback indicates that the needs of caregivers for PWD at mealtime vary, with most lacking helpful resources, and as such, the available resources in addressing mealtime challenges should be tailored for each caregiving dyad, providing on-going helpful information through various sources on a wide range of nutrition topics to increase caregiver knowledge.