An evolutionary analysis of mealtime difficulties in older adults with dementia

Melissa B Aselage and Elaine J Amella

Journal of Clinical Nursing, 2010, vol. 19, issue 1‐2, 33-41

Abstract: Aims and objectives. To use the evolutionary method of concept analysis to identify attributes, antecedents and consequences of mealtime difficulties providing direction for assessment and management in older adults with dementia. Background. Mealtimes encompass more than the physical act of feeding a person with dementia. Social and contextual considerations are vital considerations to improving nutritional intake. While feeding difficulties in dementia have been analysed in the literature, this paper proposes a broader scope of mealtime considerations to alleviate nutritional deficiencies often associated with dementia. Design. Evolutionary method of concept analysis. Methods. In 2008, literature searches using keywords (meal, history, sociology, mealtime, culture, habit, dementia, dementia) were done in CINAHL, Academic Search Premiere, MasterFILE, Americal Life and History, Communication and Mass Media Complete, EJS, Health Source Plus‐Academic, PsychARTICLES and PsychINFO, ScienceDirect, Sociological Abstracts and Google. Year limits were from 1988–2008. A total of 659 abstracts were reviewed, Google, books and textbooks with relevant content. Results. Fourty‐eight sources were used in the final analysis of mealtime difficulties in older adults with dementia. A model of mealtime difficulties delineates attributes, antecedents and consequences. Conclusions. Mealtime difficulties in dementia emerged as a concept with supporting evidence‐based practice guidelines in 2003. Most research has been conducted in institutional settings, but community research is growing as the shifting demographics of ageing demand attention for this setting. Interventions vary in effectiveness for alleviating sequelae of mealtime difficulties in older adults with dementia. Relevance to clinical practice. The conceptual model of mealtime difficulties provides a broader scope of mealtime difficulties in dementia that considers environmental, social, cultural and contextual implications with nutritional intake. The model can be used to guide future research to alleviate mealtime difficulties in older adults with dementia.

Date: 2010
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2702.2009.02969.x

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:jocnur:v:19:y:2010:i:1-2:p:33-41

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Clinical Nursing from John Wiley & Sons
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().