title: Food and nutrition care indicators: experts' views on quality indicators for food and nutrition services in assisted-living facilities for older adults.
abstract: This study assessed the views of 153 national experts in nutrition, health, and aging services in assisted-living facilities; including gerontological nutrition (39%), foodservice (14%), aging and disability (22%), geriatric medicine (9%), and assisted living (16%); on the practices that serve as indicators of the quality of food and nutrition services provided in assisted-living facilities and ascertained the most favored style of service delivery: health, amenities, or both. An 88-item Food and Nutrition Care Indicators survey was developed from assisted-living facility regulations in 50 states and other quality indicators of nutrition services. Respondents rated each item on a scale from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important). Results show that at least 80% of experts rated the majority of indicators in each domain as highly important (57% of dining room, 67% of foodservice indicators, 65% of general nutrition, and 70% of therapeutic nutrition indicators). Most experts (89%) rated a combination of indicators that included both health (general and therapeutic) and amenities service styles as being highly important. The 57 items rated most important were consolidated into a checklist. A service model that incorporates all of these elements appears to be most appropriate.
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs, One Ashburton Place, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02108, USA. Shirley.chao@state.ma.us
authors.forename: Shirley Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Chao
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Houser
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tennstedt
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jacques
authors.forename: Johanna T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Dwyer
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D040561:Assisted Living Facilities / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005161:Facility Regulation and Control; D005260:Female; D005522:Food Services / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D011786:Quality Control; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D014481:United States