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Sharing meals with institutionalized people with dementia: a natural experiment
- Authors:
- CHARRAS Kevin, FREMONTIER Michele
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 53(5), July 2010, pp.436-448.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
A natural experiment was conducted in two French special care units located in nursing homes to study the impact of changed mealtime experiences for people with Alzheimer type dementia. One special care unit implemented shared meal times between residents and caregivers, and the other served as a comparison group. The weight of participants was measured at baseline and six months afterwards, and staff reports and observations were analysed. Participants in the study who had the benefit of shared meals gained weight in comparison to participants who did not, and observations indicated that in terms of autonomy residents were seen as more independent in feeding themselves and regulating their food intake, that quality of interactions was enhanced and that shared meals seem to have improved staff perception of work conditions. The article describes the intervention and discusses the findings and their implications.