SATISFACTION WITH HOSPITAL FOOD-SERVICE AND FOOD PREFERENCE OF THE ELDERLY WITH DEMENTIA IN A GERIATRIC HOSPITAL IN KOREA

Abstract

The number of dementia care facilities is increasing in Korea, but nutritional management for them was insufficient. This study was performed to examine satisfaction with food-service and food preference of the elderly with dementia in geriatric hospital in Korea. This study was conducted on 104 the elderly with dementia (male: 21, female: 83) aged ≥65 years in 4 geriatric hospitals in Incheon and Seoul, Korea. Data were collected using a one-to-one survey in 2016 and analyzed using SPSS 20.0 program. Most of subjects were satisfied with taste, saltiness, amount, texture, and variety of hospital food-service. Satisfaction with saltiness was lower in males (p<0.05), and satisfaction with amount was lowest in elderly with dementia who had care period of 1 to 3 years (p<0.05). Subjects preferred cooked rice (51.9%), red bean porridge (50.0%), and meat soup (61.5%) among staple meals and soups. In the case of meat, beef (53.8%)> pork (49.0%)> chicken (33.7%) was preferred in order, and as for cooking methods of those, soup, grilled, and fried were preferred, respectively. Fishes and seafood preferred by subjects were yellow croaker (57.7%)> hairtail (38.5%) and oyster (43.3%)> small octopus (31.7%) in order, and as for their cooking methods, steam and soup were preferred. Subjects preferred spinach (45.2%)> bean sprout (44.2%)> cucumber (41.3%) among vegetables and preferred them as steam cooking, and they preferred cabbage kimchi (55.8%), sesame leaf pickle (47.1%), and salted pollack roe (43.3%) in order. Milk was not preferred because of diarrhea (52.7%), instead, they preferred yogurt of curd type (57.7%). Subjects preferred bananas (45.2%) among fruits, and fruits were the most preferred snacks (51.0%). The results of this study showed that most elderly with dementia in geriatric hospital were satisfied with hospital food-service, and they preferred soft foods with cooking methods such as soup and steam. Their preferences for foods and cook methods were affected by gender and ages. Therefore, it is necessary to consider their preferred foods and cooking methods for efficient nutritional management of the elderly with dementia.