title: Factors affecting the demand for congregate meals at nutrition sites.
abstract: This paper examines the relative importance of factors affecting attendance by elderly persons at congregate meal sites, with particular attention to need and service variables. A 25% systematic random sample survey of nutrition projects was conducted; those project sites where attendance was not limited by a lack of capacity were then analyzed. A demand model which predicts the number of daily meals served at a congregate site was estimated via generalized least squares regression methods. The study determined that measures of the quality of services provided--such as method of food preparation, type of building used, and the presence of other nutrition programs in the community--were more important in predicting attendance at nutrition sites than conventional demographic measures of need such as persons with incomes below poverty, minority status, or living alone.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005522:Food Services / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014481:United States