Lunch time

martina

New member
Table of contents
  1. Games
Keywords
  1. Social and emotional skills
Do you know?
Eating involves social dimensions essential for well-being and quality of life!


1650011655247.png



"Man is what he eats": whoever said this, Feuerbach wanted to emphasise the importance of nutrition for the person. Food is the fuel that allows our physiological system to activate and function properly.
Eating also has an emotional, social and cultural value. At festivals we eat together: eating has a meaning of sharing and conviviality. It generates a sense of home and family. Losing interest in food and independence in preparing meals means losing part of this pleasure. If you are a person with dementia, get involved in routines that include meal preparation. "Taste" these moments again!


1650011711144.png
And you, how do you do to make meal times more pleasant and enjoyable?
Discuss it with the community members

Do you know?
Eating involves social dimensions essential for well-being and quality of life!


Feuerbach said that "Man is what he eats." With this quote he emphasised how important nutrition could be for the person. Food can be considered the fuel that allows our physiological system to activate and function properly. However, it does not solely have a purely biological value, but also an emotional, social and cultural one.
Food is linked to positive and negative emotions, to moments of sharing and conviviality, to that sense of home and family, as well as to the holidays. Losing independence in preparing food means a loss of quality of life.
Involving people living with dementia in the preparation of meals could be essential in providing them with a sense of control and routine. Meal preparation can be a time of sharing and daily engagement. It marks the time passed during the day (with benefits in terms of time orientation) and produces a sense of usefulness and involvement.

Dementia affects several aspects related to eating, such as chewing and swallowing, altered perception of smells and tastes, failure to recognize food and differentiate it from objects, difficulty in maintaining attention and completing more complex tasks such as cooking.
These difficulties often create an adverse reaction, which can lead to an attitude of rejection, apathy, indifference, rejection of food and drink, resulting in weight loss, malnutrition and dehydration, anxiety during lunch, with stressful repercussions on the family.

In order to help people living with dementia we can:

  • Offer finger foods to address problems related to the correct use of cutlery
  • Avoid plastic cups or devices usually used for children
  • Reduce cutlery and leave only necessary ones
  • Use velcro cutlery so they can hold it in their hand
  • Facilitate food recognition using shapes to reproduce the shape of foods
  • Avoid imposing too restrictive diets if medical conditions allow it
  • Make sure that there is colour contrast between the food and the dish, to make it easier to see the food (for example we can use a blue dish to highlight the colour of the food)
  • Offer food and drinks taking into account personal habits and preferences and controlling their temperature;
  • Offer one food/drink at a time
  • While feeding them, have them put a hand on your arm so they can have greater control over the timing
  • If possible, remove the tabletop from the wheelchair to allow the person to sit at the table like everyone else at the same distance from the table and at the same height
  • If possible, allow the person living with dementia to use the same chair as everyone else
  • Place a plastic tablecloth under the chair, this can be used to later pick up food dropped on the floor
  • During lunch or dinner, include the person in the conversations, using, when necessary, specific questions on the topic
  • Don’t overstimulate with excessive external stimuli such as radio, TV, noise, movement, etc., which may cause stress or disorientation.
  • Serve each meal in the same place at the same time and do it in quiet and well-lit environments.
  • As a caregiver during a meal, you can stimulate the person to eat / drink independently, without forcing them.


1650011852828.png
Don't forget the most important thing: we all eat better in company. Sit down and eat with them!


1650011711144.png
And you, how do you do to make meal times more pleasant and enjoyable?
Discuss it with the community members










References

Chan, C. S., Slaughter, S. E., Jones, C. A., & Wagg, A. S. (2015).Greater independence in activities of daily living is associated with higher health-related quality of life scores in nursing home residents with dementia. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 3,503–518.
Bellomy, Kelly. "Successful mealtimes for persons with dementia in nursing homes." (2014). https://doi.org/10.17615/8vtt-fz72
Liu, W., Cheon, J., & Thomas, S. A. (2013). Interventions on mealtime difficulties in older adults with dementia: A systematic review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 51,14-27.
Whear, R., Abbott, R., Thompson-Coon, J., Bethel, A., Rogers, M., Hemsley, A., . . . Stein, K.(2014). Effectiveness of mealtime interventions on behavior symptoms of people with dementia living in care homes: A systematic review. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 15(3), 185-193.


 
Last edited:
Top