Marjorie Getz, PhD (c), Psychology, Bradley University, 1501 W Bradley Avenue, Peoria, IL 61625, 309-677-2587, mgetz@bradley.edu and Jeannette Davidson, PhD, Family and Consumer Sciences, Bradley University, 1501 W. Bradley Avenue, Peoria, IL 61625.

Nutritional well-being is critical in the continuum of care for the elderly yet is often overlooked in office-based health examinations because of lack of (1) understanding of the importance of nutritional status, (2) time to undertake this type of appraisal and (3) appropriate resources to implement nutritional assessment. This research used congregate meal site (n=69) and home delivered meal (n=53) programs as means to provide effective nutritional assessment of older adults. The conviviality of these meal/social programs facilitated integration of trained health care assessors to monitor nutrition status of this vulnerable group. We developed a simple means to assess nutritional status of elderly using these programs that allows feedback to primary care practitioners and also provision of comprehensive public health nutrition education. This research employed thoroughly trained dietetic interns to assess groups of free-living elderly (aged 50-90 years) living in six counties in Central Illinois. Nutritional risk was measured using the Mini Nutritional Assessment, NSI Level I Screens, standardized anthropometric measurements and body composition (assessed by leg-to-leg bioelectric impedance). Results showed that more that 26-28% of elderly were at risk for malnutrition and 3-5.7% of the study participants were malnourished--even in these groups with access to daily nutritionally prepared meals. Implications from this study include the fact that free-living elderly are at risk for malnutrition and that group meal sites and home delivered meals provide important venues for assessment and feedback to primary care practitioners and also could provide opportunities for important public health education related to nutrition.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe known advantages of sponsored meal programs in providing important opportunities for social interaction and receipt of nutritionally balanced meals.
• Emphasize importance of expanding the role of these programs to provide the opportunity for important public health assessment of vulnerable populations.
• Outline a model that both assures provision of confidential feedback to primary care practitioners targeting persons at risk and delivers public health nutrition education progrmas.
• Describe simple, reliable, community-based methods for nutritional risk assessment that can be incorporated into sponsored meal programs.

Keywords: Aging, Community Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Tanita Bioimpedance equipment
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.