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RESEARCH PRODUCT

ENGAGE: Development of actions to (re)engage institutionalized older people in the meals

subject

description

Eating in nursing home implies a redefinition of the meal, from the point of view of the nursing staff which are subjected to specific constraints connected to hygiene and nutritional frame, but also from the point of view of the residents who are subjected to the medicalization of food consumption, to the changes of practices and to the redefining of the commensality. In their survey carried out in nursing homes with in-house kitchen, the sociologist P. Cardon and the anthropologist E. Souternon observed that the institution’s kitchen was often perceived as a “black-box” by the residents.A first step of the project consisted in carrying out semi-directive interviews with older people living at home or in a nursing home as well as well as co-creation sessions with nursing home staff. The analysis of verbatim revealed that choice is an important factor to keep older people involved in the meals: choice of meal time, place, guests, but also choice of what I want to eat. In addition, keeping older people engaged in their meals does not only involvegestures (carrying out food-related activities such as shopping, cooking) by also sustaining the desire to eat by offering “good” meals at a sensory, physical and social level (tasty food, pleasant environment, conviviality…). Finally, it is interesting to note that the older respondents have stressed the importance of communication between the residents and the nursing staff. Older people has claimed the right to give their opinion on meals, menus, recipes… to better tailored the food supply to their expectations and preferences.