The need for improvement within the nutrition education component of many congregate meals programs for the older adult has been widely discussed. Personal experience, observations and conversations with other professionals experiencing the problem suggest the need for more personalized nutrition education activities and the need for ways to arouse the participants' interest in nutrition as possible solutions to the problem. / An intensive search of the literature revealed that problems did, in fact, exist with the nutrition education component of a large number of congregate meals programs. Throughout the literature, the need to stimulate older adults to want to know more about nutrition and the need to plan the learning experiences around the needs and concerns of the older adult as they perceive them was documented. Even so, the literature as it is, does not instruct the practitioner as to how to go about determining the specific needs of the older adults nor does it provide concrete information on how to stimulate their interest in nutrition. / This study was designed to address this problem as it occurred in a specific congregate meals program. The investigator used the case study approach and diet history questionnaire to collect data on thirty volunteer participants in a congregate meals program in Tallahassee, Florida. A systematic record was kept on program participants for the purpose of deriving generalizations upon which the investigator developed a practical needs assessment technique. The practical needs assessment technique was used to determine the nutrition education needs and concerns of the older adults participating in this congregate meals program and to stimulate their interest in nutrition. / The administration of the practical needs assessment technique produced the outcome desired by the investigator. This investigation is valuable in that it provides for the practitioner involved in providing nutrition education to older adults with attributes similar to those in this study a technique that can be used to determine the needs of his/her group. Also, the pamphlet developed in conjunction with this study is useful to the individual with little background knowledge about older adults. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-02, Section: A, page: 0342. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74748 |
| Contributors | WILLIAMS, DELPHIA SHAW., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 156 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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