Meal Programs Improve Nutritional Risk: A Longitudinal Analysis of Community-Living Seniors

To determine the independent association of meal programs (eg, Meals On Wheels and other meal programs with a social component) and shopping help on seniors’ nutritional risk. Cohort design. Baseline data were collected with an in-person interview and subjects were followed up for 18 months via telephone interview. Cognitively well, vulnerable (ie, required informal or formal supports for activities of daily living) seniors were recruited through community service agencies in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Three hundred sixty-seven seniors participated in baseline interviews and 263 completed data collection at 18-month follow-up; 70% participated in meal programs at baseline. The 15-item Seniors in the Community: Risk Evaluation for Eating and Nutrition (SCREEN) questionnaire identified nutritional risk at 18 months. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were performed and significant associations ( P