Helping people with dementia to eat well at home: An investigation to understand and enhance nutritional care
type: CreativeWork
description: In this thesis I developed a complex intervention to help people living at home with dementia to eat well, and improve nutritional care. This was achieved through four studies conducted using multiple methods. A scoping review found 61 studies reported in 63 articles after searching six databases from inception to July 2016. Content analysis was used, and the overarching categories were: ‘timely identification of nutritional risk and subsequent regular monitoring of nutritional status’, ‘multi-component tailored interventions’, and the ‘influence of the caregiving dyad on nutritional status’. Most studies were cross-sectional (n=24), cohort (n=15) or qualitative (n=9). Only three were randomised controlled trials. People living at home with dementia are identified as a vulnerable group (n=35), however only four studies tested interventions to improve nutritional care. In two qualitative studies, semi-structured interviews were used (alongside diaries and a vignette) to explore the experiences of the nutritional care of people living with dementia at home from the perspectives of family members, healthcare professionals and homecare workers. Eight family carers (mean age of 69.6 years) and seven healthcare professionals and homecare workers (mean time spent in profession = 8.9 years) were purposively recruited and interviewed between October 2017 and March 2018. An Interpretative phenomenological analysis approach was used. Three superordinate themes were identified for family carers: ‘becoming carer and cook’, ‘changing role and relationships’, and ‘emotional eating’. Four superordinate themes were identified for healthcare professionals and homecare workers: ‘responsibility to care’, ‘practice restrained by policy’, ‘in it together’, and ‘improving nutritional care’. Family carers, healthcare professionals and homecare workers feel that they do not have adequate knowledge to support someone if they are nutritionally compromised. They are conscious about ‘doing the …
abstract: In this thesis I developed a complex intervention to help people living at home with dementia to eat well, and improve nutritional care. This was achieved through four studies conducted using multiple methods. A scoping review found 61 studies reported in 63 articles after searching six databases from inception to July 2016. Content analysis was used, and the overarching categories were: ‘timely identification of nutritional risk and subsequent regular monitoring of nutritional status’, ‘multi-component tailored interventions’, and the ‘influence of the caregiving dyad on nutritional status’. Most studies were cross-sectional (n=24), cohort (n=15) or qualitative (n=9). Only three were randomised controlled trials. People living at home with dementia are identified as a vulnerable group (n=35), however only four studies tested interventions to improve nutritional care. In two qualitative studies, semi-structured interviews were used (alongside diaries and a vignette) to explore the experiences of the nutritional care of people living with dementia at home from the perspectives of family members, healthcare professionals and homecare workers. Eight family carers (mean age of 69.6 years) and seven healthcare professionals and homecare workers (mean time spent in profession = 8.9 years) were purposively recruited and interviewed between October 2017 and March 2018. An Interpretative phenomenological analysis approach was used. Three superordinate themes were identified for family carers: ‘becoming carer and cook’, ‘changing role and relationships’, and ‘emotional eating’. Four superordinate themes were identified for healthcare professionals and homecare workers: ‘responsibility to care’, ‘practice restrained by policy’, ‘in it together’, and ‘improving nutritional care’. Family carers, healthcare professionals and homecare workers feel that they do not have adequate knowledge to support someone if they are nutritionally compromised. They are conscious about ‘doing the …
author: Mole, Louise
language: eng
keywords: Dementia, Nutrition, Dietetics, Social care
date published: 2021-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:50:16Z
provider: University of Plymouth
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Plymouth