Communal Dining Room Research Articles

Foodservice systems and mealtime models in rehabilitation: Scoping review.

To describe current foodservice systems and mealtime care utilized in the rehabilitation setting. A secondary aim was to identify commonly used outcome measures in foodservice research in the rehabilitation setting. A scoping review. PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Embase, PsycINFO and Cochrane were searched until January 2022. The review was conducted according to Joanna Briggs Institute's methodology for scoping reviews. Included studies were conducted in the inpatient rehabilitation setting, adult population ≥18 years old and provided a description of at least one element of the foodservice system, food and menu, waste and/or eating environment. Of 5882 articles screened, 37 articles were included, reporting 31 unique studies. Most rehabilitation units had cook-fresh production methods (50%), used decentralized bulk delivery methods (67%) had a communal dining room (67%) and had a 3-week menu cycle (71%). Mealtime care was predominantly provided by nursing staff, however few studies reported on specific activities. Nutritional intake was a key outcome measure across included studies (43%), with only six papers reporting on rehabilitation outcomes. Of the intervention studies (n=9), all were aimed at improving nutritional intake through menu or mealtime care modifications; few (n = 3) studied changes in rehabilitation outcomes. This scoping review identified a considerable lack of reporting of foodservice and mealtime care systems used in rehabilitation settings in the available literature. Further investigation is required to understand what models of mealtime care are provided to patients and to understand the impact of changes to foodservice and mealtime systems on patient outcomes. No patient or public contribution was necessary for this review.

Factors Involved in the Food Choices of Diners in a Kibbutz Communal Dining Room Buffet: A Qualitative Study.

Improving nutrition improves health outcomes. Eating in a catering system may provide an environment for promoting healthy dietary choices. To map the factors that shape the food choices of diners who routinely eat in catering systems, we collected and analyzed qualitative data about diners’ perceptions of their food choices in communal dining rooms in three kibbutzim in Israel. From May to July 2014, we conducted in-depth, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with 13 diners who ate at least three lunches per week in the kibbutz’s dining room. Data analysis followed thematic analysis principles. Two categories of themes emerged from the interviews. In the personal context category, the themes identified were eating as a task and attempts to control one’s eating. In the contextual aspects of eating in the catering system category, themes identified were eating in the dining room as a default, the characteristics of the food served, routine, and personal versus public aspects. The sub-theme of the diners’ freedom of choice emerged in the two categories of themes. Diners’ wishes of maintaining their freedom of choice may be an important contribution to the debate of whether catering systems should provide only healthy foods, which may jeopardize diners’ freedom of choice.

Time for dinner: the communal dining room in care homes and its impact on nutritional outcomes.

Time for dinner: the communal dining room in care homes and its impact on nutritional outcomes.

Improvement in Healthy Meal Index, Lunch Quality, and Diversity Scores Following an Integrated Nutritional Intervention in a Communal Dining Room: The NEKST Study.

The objective of the NEKST (Nutrition Environmental Kibbutzim Study), a nonrandomized interventional study, was to evaluate the effect of an integrated intervention program on participants’ lunch quality and diversity in two communal dining rooms (intervention n = 58 vs. control n = 54). The intervention included recipe modification, environmental changes, and an education program. The outcomes included simple healthy meal index (SHMI), lunch quality (LQS), and diversity scores (LDS) calculated based on photographs of lunch trays. A nutrition questionnaire assessed the changes in fruit and vegetable intake at baseline and 3 months following the intervention. The mean SHMI, LQS, and LDS increased in the intervention group (0.51, p < 0.001; 0.27, p = 0.045; 0.95, p < 0.001, respectively) but not in the control group (p = 0.865; p = 0.339; p = 0.354, respectively). Multivariable linear models demonstrate an increase in the SHMI (β = 0.26, 95% CI [0.12–0.76], p = 0.015), LQS (β = 0.23, 95% CI [0.06–0.83], p = 0.024), and LDS (β = 0.34, 95% CI [0.41–1.39], p < 0.001) of the participants in the intervention group. More participants in the intervention group raised their daily fruit intake compared with the control. We conclude that this integrated intervention program was effective in improving lunch healthy meal index, quality, and diversity in a communal dining room, with a modest halo effect of the intervention throughout the day.

Impact of television on nutritional intake in communal dining room settings among those with acquired brain injury: A pilot study.

Those with acquired brain injury (ABI) experience impairments in executive function, attention and concentration that may contribute to or exacerbate poor nutritional intakes. This is frequently observed in long-stay rehabilitation settings. This investigation aimed to identify the specific impact of the dining room television as a factor that exacerbates poor intake and nutritional status among those with ABI. Routine meal audits were completed (six television on, six television off) over four non-consecutive days. Each individual's protein and energy intake per meal and day were assessed, and the differences were examined through paired t-tests. Dining room decibels were measured, with means, peaks and minimums recorded. Complete data for 12 meals were collected for seven individuals. Clinically, but not statistically significant increases in 48-hour protein and energy intake occurred with television off compared with on, including those requiring texture modified diets. This pilot investigation highlights that television may have a detrimental impact on nutritional intakes among those with ABI. Given the negligible costs and risk, minimising disruptive influences by turning the television off may become a recommendation for ABI in long-care rehabilitation settings.

Improving Adherence to Mediterranean-Style Diet With a Community Culinary Coaching Program: Methodology Development and Process Evaluation.

The Community Culinary Coaching Program is a community-based participatory program aimed at improving communal settlement residents' nutrition. The residents, central kitchens, preschools, and communal dining rooms were identified as areas for intervention. Evaluation included goals accomplishment assessed by food purchases by the central kitchens, and residents' feedback through focus groups. Purchasing included more vegetables (mean (standard error) percent change), (+7% (4); P = .32), fish (+115% (11); P < .001), whole grains, and legumes (+77% (9); P < .001); and less soup powders (-40% (9); P < .05), processed beef (-55% (8); P < .001), and margarine (-100% (4); P < .001). Residents recommended continuing the program beyond the project duration. This model might be useful in organizations with communal dining facilities.

Does eating environment have an impact on the protein and energy intake in the hospitalised elderly?

This pilot study aimed to examine the difference in energy and protein intake of the midday meal in two different eating environments-the communal dining room and patient bedside-and to obtain feedback on patient preference at each location. Elderly patients in two rehabilitation wards were observed consuming the midday meal on two consecutive days: day 1 in the dining room and day 2 at the bedside. The patients' intake was recorded by a visual 5-point assessment scale and analysed for protein and energy content using the hospital food services nutrient analysis of the menu. Patients were also surveyed on preference of eating environment through a written survey. This study found that patients consumed 20% more energy and protein when dining in a communal environment (P = 0.006 and 0.01, respectively). Patients with a body mass index of less than 22 (P = 0.01 and 0.01, respectively) and those with significant cognitive impairment (P = 0.001 and 0.007, respectively) ate 30% more protein and energy in the dining room, and those identified at risk of malnutrition (Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST) ≥ 2) ate 42% more energy and 27% more protein in the dining room, although this was not statistically significant (P = 0.05 and 0.16). A total of 86% of surveyed patients favoured eating their midday meal in the dining room. This study supports the contention that a dining room environment can increase food intake, increase patients' opportunities to enjoy the social aspect of meal times, and potentially lead to weight gain and reduced malnutrition risk in the rehabilitation setting.

Addressing the nutritional needs of older people in residential care homes

In the UK and Europe, malnutrition in older people is a significant and continuing problem. Malnutrition predisposes to disease, impedes recovery from illness, increases mortality and is costly to society. Despite the high number of older people potentially at risk, malnutrition in care homes has been under explored. There is concern that national guidelines regarding the nutritional care of older people in residential care homes are not always implemented. This qualitative study explored the factors that influence the nutritional care provided to residents in two different types of local authority residential care homes (providing personal care) in Wales. One home had communal dining rooms; the other had eight bedded units with their own kitchen and dining facilities. The sample of 45 participants, comprised 19 staff (managers, care and catering staff), 16 residents and 10 residents' relatives. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, focus groups, observation and documentary review between August 2009 and January 2010. This paper focuses on how staff assessed and addressed residents' nutritional needs. In both care homes, staff strove to be responsive to residents' dietary preferences, provided person-centred care and worked in partnership with residents and their families to provide nutritious food in a homely environment. Neither home conducted nutritional screening to identify those at risk of malnutrition, contrary to national guidelines, but relied on ad hoc observation and monitoring. The staff's knowledge of special dietary needs was limited. A need for further training for care home staff regarding the importance of nutrition in maintaining health in older people, use of nutritional screening and special dietary needs was identified. Shared nutrition training between health and social care staff needs expansion and policy implications in terms of an enhanced regulatory focus on maintaining nutritional needs in care homes are proposed.

Utopian Visions of Family Life in the Stalin-Era Soviet Union

Soviet socialism shared with its utopian socialist predecessors a critique of the conventional family and its household economy. Marx and Engels asserted that women's emancipation would follow the abolition of private property, allowing the family to be a union of individuals within which relations between the sexes would be “a purely private affair.” Building on this legacy, Lenin imagined a future when unpaid housework and child care would be replaced by communal dining rooms, nurseries, kindergartens, and other industries. The issue was so central to the revolutionary program that the Bolsheviks published decrees establishing civil marriage and divorce soon after the October Revolution, in December 1917. These first steps were intended to replace Russia's family laws with a new legal framework that would encourage more egalitarian sexual and social relations. A complete Code on Marriage, the Family, and Guardianship was ratified by the Central Executive Committee a year later, in October 1918. The code established a radical new doctrine based on individual rights and gender equality, but it also preserved marriage registration, alimony, child support, and other transitional provisions thought to be unnecessary after the triumph of socialism. Soviet debates about the relative merits of unfettered sexuality and the protection of women and children thus resonated with long-standing tensions in the history of socialism.

Reducing functional decline of older people in an acute-care setting: are we providing adequate care to maintain/optimise the functional status of our elder patients?

To improve practice in the care of the older person to ensure their functional status has not declined at the point of discharge by: determining available standards of care in relation to assessment of functional ability in the elderly; measuring current practice against standards of care based on the best available evidence; establishing priority areas for practice/improvement; implementing the practice/improvement plan; measuring practice to determine improvement in the management of functional decline in older patients and identifying further areas for investigation. A multidisciplinary team used a range of knowledge translation tools and strategies in order to reduce functional decline of the older person in the acute-care setting. Audit was used to determine compliance with best practice standards and to determine the level of functional decline. A novel intervention was introduced in the form of a communal dining room and this was evaluated by the project team. The project was part of a program of seven projects (The Older Person and Improving Care) facilitated by a team with expertise in knowledge translation. Facilitation was provided though a structured education program and ongoing support. It was identified for this organisation that it was necessary to develop specific standards of care for the elderly in relation to functional decline. It was confirmed that there were unacceptable levels of functional decline in the elderly particularly in relation to mobility. The project team were able to show the feasibility and potential benefits of a communal dining room in reducing functional decline. It has been recognised that practice improvement activities are complex and that despite good planning and facilitation things do not always go to plan. This stated, it should be recognised that a great deal was achieved. Standards of care were able to be developed from an evidence base. These standards were used to develop an audit tool that confirmed deficits in practice. The outcome was a trial of a new intervention, a communal dining room, which showed considerable potential in reducing functional decline in the elderly.

Primary health care the New Zealand way

Many Maori perceive hospitals and general-practice surgeries as unfriendly environments and can be reluctant to seek health care at these institutions. To combat this, one of the primary health care facilities, the Te Rangimaire clinic, is located on the marae, or sacred meeting place, so that Maori feel more at ease. clinic has two general practitioners, who are well trusted in the Maori community Reverend Marie Collin, a member of the Ngati Kahungunu tribe, one of the largest Maori tribes in the Wairarapa region, speaks glowingly of the clinic at Te Rangimaire marae. She said that the service had become so popular that it was necessary to extend the hours and relocate the clinic from an old homestead on the marae to larger rooms in a new building housing the marae's communal dining room. Although the doctor, Cath Becker, is of European ancestry she is culturally sensitive, understands Maori protocol and is well respected by the community. Our kaumatua (Maori elders) are very comfortable coming here, says Collin. The doctor knows how to handle our people and what we do differently. As an example she cites a relaxed attitude to appointments. If our people are running late it is no big deal. It's not an issue. People just arrive and take their turn. Clinics such as the one at Te Rangimaire are the result of a cultural shift in the way health services are delivered to Maori. Helen Kjestrup, a member of the Health Care Nursing Advisory Committee for the Wairarapa region, is helping develop relations between Maori and the Health Organisation. It has been slow, but it is happening, she says. To do this, she attends hui, Maori community meetings. Kjestrup believes that establishing health-care clinics in places where the Maori people feel comfortable has improved their access to health care. New Zealand's primary health care system has undergone dramatic changes since 2000--changes that government officials say have already improved access to its services for Maori and other groups. Wairarapa region, a sparsely populated agricultural valley between the Tararua mountains on the west and the Pacific Ocean on the east, can claim to have successfully implemented many of these changes. valleys population is a mix of European, Maori and Pacific Islanders, whose health-care needs vary enormously. Wairarapa Health Organisation is addressing these demands by working with the different communities to address the disparities in health between the different groups. Primary Health Organisations are enormously different beasts, says Joy Cooper, general manager of the Wairarapa District Health Board. There is a huge variety of styles and sizes. In Masterton, one of the main towns in the valley, there is a community centre for Pacific Islanders, Cameron Community House, which local general practitioner Dr David Nixon visits for one hour a week. A primary care nurse also visits the centre for four hours a week. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Cameron Community House and Te Rangimaire are just two of the many primary health care services and facilities in the Wairarapa region; others include general-practice surgeries and hospital-based services such as community nursing. Most primary care providers are coordinated by the Wairarapa Health Organisation, which is overseen by the district health board. Health Organisations are the local structures for implementing New Zealand's Health Care Strategy that was launched in 2001. core of the strategy is to reduce health inequalities, engage communities and improve the prevention and management of chronic illnesses. strategy was based on the Declaration of Alma-Ata, says Dr Tim Kenealy, a senior lecturer at the Department of General Practice and Care at the University of Auckland. …

Frontline reports: Holocaust survivors' home.

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Frontline ReportsFull AccessHolocaust Survivors' HomeBaruch N. Greenwald, M.S.W., and Arnest Shvindelman, M.A.R.N.Baruch N. GreenwaldSearch for more papers by this author, M.S.W., and Arnest ShvindelmanSearch for more papers by this author, M.A.R.N.Published Online:1 Oct 2001https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.52.10.1391AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail Some 500 psychiatric inpatients in Israel are known to be survivors of the Nazi Holocaust. Many of them have been hospitalized continuously for 20 to 50 years. Most of these patients received diagnoses of chronic schizophrenia, with no special attention given to the historical circumstances related to their psychiatric symptoms and disabilities.In response to the need for a different approach to this population, a unique home for such Holocaust survivors was opened on February 1, 2000, adjacent to the grounds of the Beer Ya'acov Regional Mental Health Center in central Israel. The entire facility is planned for 100 residents, who are housed in three buildings. Each building is a separate one-story structure with its own small kitchen and communal dining room. Each resident room has its own toilet and shower and houses two patients. Activities at the home include psychodrama, exercise, music therapy, and a weekly cinema club.Directed by a professional social worker, the home is staffed 24 hours a day by nurses and nurses' aides trained in geriatric and psychiatric nursing. A social worker and an occupational therapist support this staff, and a psychiatrist and an internist on call from the regional center usually visit the home every weekday.One turning point in defining this program as a "home" rather than an institution came on the occasion of the first major Jewish holiday in our setting, the Jewish festival of Passover, on April 19, 2000. Passover is celebrated with the seder, a ceremonial dinner and collective recitation of the ancient Israelites' enslavement in Egypt and the subsequent exodus. The seder meal is traditionally a family experience, often charged with high emotions. Family members meet with other relatives whom they may not have seen for some time, and they often recall deceased relatives.Many of the survivors in our home have no relatives, and they all have a personal history profoundly disturbed by inhumane and systematic physical and psychological torture. Although staff members were apprehensive about having a seder, most of the patients participated in the communal singing and religious ceremonies and partook in the festive meal.The case of Ms. A is an illustrative example. Born in 1927 in Hungary, Ms. A was raised by a foster family in Budapest. She was forced for economic reasons to leave school and begin working as a maid at the age of 14. Ms. A was 17 when the Nazis began rounding up Jews in the Budapest ghetto in 1944, and she was able to survive as a prostitute. The rest of her story is not clear. It is known that she immigrated to Palestine and was a soldier in Israel's War of Independence. After the war she never married or adjusted to normal life.Before she was released to the Holocaust Survivors' Home, she had been hospitalized for 40 years in a crowded, privately owned institution. Usually introverted, she was diagnosed as having residual chronic schizophrenia. Ms. A blossomed at the seder. She read the story of the Exodus, she sang, and she seemed to express emotions long dormant, remembering things "as they were."We believe the Holocaust Survivor's Home could be a useful model for patients who are displaced survivors of catastrophic events, have severe mental illness, and require continuous care.Mr. Greenwald, M.S.W., is professional director and Mr. Shvindelman is head nurse of the home. For more information, write the authors at Holocaust Survivors' Home, P.O.B. 1, Beer Ya'acov, 70350, Israel (e-mail, [email protected]). FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited byClosure of State Psychiatric Hospitals for ChildrenMichael A. Pawel, M.D.1 January 2002 | Psychiatric Services, Vol. 53, No. 1 Volume 52Issue 10 October 2001Pages 1391-1391 Metrics PDF download History Published online 1 October 2001 Published in print 1 October 2001

Extreme airborne asbestos concentrations in a public building.

Fibre concentrations of asbestos were measured in the air of a communal dining room in which the damaged ceiling had a sprayed on coating of insulation containing asbestos. The average concentration of crocidolite asbestos fibres was 4 f/cm3, 20 times the highest air concentration that appears to have been reported previously for a public building. It is concluded that although air concentrations of asbestos fibres in public buildings containing asbestos insulation materials are usually low, high concentrations can occur. This may have implications for the risk of exposed persons developing diseases associated with asbestos.

Physical activity at work and the incidence of myocardial infarction, angina pectoris and death due to ischemic heart disease. An epidemiological study in Israeli collective settlements (Kibbutzim)

The incidence of IHD during a 15-yr period was surveyed in 5288 men and 5229 women 40–64-yr-old in Israeli collective settlements. In all age brackets the incidence of the five coronary diagnostic categories (Primary Anginal Syndrome, Primary Myocardial Infarction, All Myocardial Infarction, Fatal IHD, Total IHD), was 2–4 times higher in sedentary male workers than in nonsedentary workers. Total IHD in women engaged in sedentary work occurred with a higher incidence than in those engaged in non-sedentary work. No significant differences in leisure time activities, in serum cholesterol and serum triglycerides between sedentary and non-sedentary workers were found. The percentage of obese, non-obese and lean persons was equal in sedentary and non-sedentary workers, eliminating body weight as a possible explanation. Myocardial infarction occurred about 1.2 times more frequently than anginal syndrome in both, sedentary and non-sedentary workers. The results of this survey, conducted in a population where the standard of living does not depend on the work done by the individual, where food is prepared for the whole community in one kitchen and served in a communal dining room, stresses the favorable effect of physical (occupational) work on the incidence of angina pectoris, myocardial infarction and fatal cases due to ischemic heart disease, other factors being equal.

Attenuated measles-virus vaccine studies in Israel. I. Comparison of reactions after inoculation of vaccine with gamma-globulin.

The unusual structure of the cooperative villages in Israel lends attraction for the use of these communal settlements for epidemiological studies. The Kibbutz is a rural village in which 50 to several hundred families live in close proximity to one another. They work together, eat in a communal dining room, and the children live in communal houses, being grouped according to ages. Contact between the members is continuous and at all levels. Contact with extra-Kibbutz life occurs regularly and among children, particularly in the district schools. Epidemics in this situation are usually explosive in character. A Moshav is a cooperative village of a different type in which each family has its own home, there being no communal dining room or babies' and children's homes. Here too the members of the village are in continual contact with one another but less so than in a Kibbutz. Epidemics here proceed more slowly.

Geography of olenid trilobite distribution and its influence on Cambro-Ordovician correlation

Fibre concentrations of asbestos were measured in the air of a communal dining room in which the damaged ceiling had a sprayed on coating of insulation containing asbestos. The average concentration of crocidolite asbestos fibres was 4 f/cm3, 20 times the highest air concentration that appears to have been reported previously for a public building. It is concluded that although air concentrations of asbestos fibres in public buildings containing asbestos insulation materials are usually low, high concentrations can occur. This may have implications for the risk of exposed persons developing diseases associated with asbestos.