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Food and meals in caring institutions – a small dive into research

Kai Victor Hansen (Norwegian School of Hotel Management, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway)

International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance

ISSN: 0952-6862

Article publication date: 9 May 2016

537

Abstract

Purpose

With the growing older population, the increasing interest in the elderly’s eating habits and the meal situation go hand in hand and are challenges in many countries, including Norway. The purpose of this paper is to investigate, part of an ongoing project in Norway, address four categories of elderly people: healthy elderly (HE), old people with home care, elderly living in institutions, and critical ill elderly.

Design/methodology/approach

The aim of this study was to investigate related articles concerning food and the elderly in the four identified categories, defining six different meal experience categories to disclose possible gaps in the research in terms of core product, room, personal service, company, atmosphere, and management control systems (MCS). Database searches, conducted through JSTOR and Web of Science, started with words in combination with “elderly and meal experiences” and were narrowed down to the most relevant papers with words from the six meal experience categories. Ultimately, 21 of 51 downloaded papers from international journals were reviewed.

Findings

A comparison of the four elderly groups was made across the six different meal experience categories, which disclosed several gaps. Among the 21 papers, five focused on HE, 12 on older people living with home care, 16 on elderly living in institutions, and one on critical ill elderly. The specific under-researched gaps include room, company, atmosphere, and MCS.

Research limitations/implications

Future research will need to investigate these groups more thoroughly, and the research should concentrate on the HE and critical ill in connection with the six meal experience aspects.

Originality/value

The combination of meal experience aspects towards different elderly categories is an original perspective on the aim of the literature review.

Keywords

Citation

Hansen, K.V. (2016), "Food and meals in caring institutions – a small dive into research", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 29 No. 4, pp. 380-406. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHCQA-08-2015-0092

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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