Abstract
Prepared meals distributed by municipalities is a service to elderly people, or persons with health related impairments, who live in their own home, have difficulties preparing their own food and cannot meet their food requirements in any other way. This study aimed to provide a brief picture of how elderly people living at home perceive the food they receive through their municipal food service and what is important to them. The data was collected using questionnaires. 274 out of 276 participants answered the questionnaire (n=173 women 62% and n=101 man 37%). The data was analyzed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA).The results showed that the elderly persons receiving meals through the service were often satisfied, especially with the size of the portions and the delivery time. Those who had been using the food delivery service for a longer time were not satisfied with the alternative dishes they were been offered. There was no significant difference between the views of either gender. Further, those who were receiving special food were, in general, unsatisfied with the meals delivered.Development of the food distribution service by systematic quality insurance and interactive knowledge exchange between the producers and consumers seems to be a way to promote a more holistic and individual adjusted service. Evaluation of the municipal FD service is a powerful tool that can contribute to the development of this service.The food service can be improved and consequently even the quality of life and health of its receivers. The present survey should be revisited and developed in order to detect differences between genders.
Highlights
Prepared meals distributed by municipalities in Sweden is a service to elderly people, or persons with health related impairments, who live in their own home, have difficulties preparing their own food and cannot meet their food requirements in any other way (Pajalic & Westergren, 2013)
This study aimed to provide a brief picture of how elderly people living at home perceive the food they receive through their municipal food service and what is important to them
The focus was on: gender (GEN), the length of time for receiving of food distribution (FD) (LEN), how many days the meals were distributed each week (DPW), how the participants experience the taste of the food (TAS), the variation of the dishes (VAR), if there were any alternative dishes on the menu (ALT), if any special diet was available (OTH), the satisfaction level with a special diet (SAT), the level of satisfaction with the delivery time of the meals (DEL), the size of the portions (SIZ), did relatives, service personnel or any others offer assistance during meal times (HEL), were evening meals or snacks available? There was a possibility to offer suggestions regarding what in the FD service could be improved
Summary
Prepared meals distributed by municipalities in Sweden is a service to elderly people, or persons with health related impairments, who live in their own home, have difficulties preparing their own food and cannot meet their food requirements in any other way (Pajalic & Westergren, 2013). Swedish elderly care and the prepared meals service is publicly financed and a publicly provided service (Szebehely & Trydegård, 2012). Requests for the service are subject to need assessment by public home care officers (Pajalic, 2013c) .Of the approximately 291 municipalities in Sweden, 280 produce meals at municipally owned kitchens, while the remainder, who provide meals, outsource this service to private operators. Distributed meals comprised of mostly of lunches which corresponded to 30% (Akner, 2003) of the elderly people’s daily www.ccsenet.org/gjhs
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