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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #231075
Title: Practitioners’ Opinions on Food and Nutrition Care Indicators (FANCI) in Assisted Living Facilities for Older Adults

Author
item CHAO, SHIRLEY - FRIEDMAN SCHOOL
item DWYER, JOHANNA - FRANCES STERN CTR, TNEMC
item HOUSER, ROBERT - FRIEDMAN SCHOOL
item TENNSTEDT, SHARON - NEW ENGLAND RESEARCH INST
item Jacques, Paul

Submitted to: Journal Of The American Dietetic Association
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/29/2008
Publication Date: 9/1/2008
Citation: Chao, S.Y., Dwyer, J.T., Houser, R.F., Tennstedt, S., Jacques, P. 2008. Practitioners’ Opinions on Food and Nutrition Care Indicators (FANCI) in Assisted Living Facilities for Older Adults. Journal Of The American Dietetic Association. 108(9):1526-1531.

Interpretive Summary: The Food and Nutrition Care Indicators (FANCI) survey of national health and aging experts identified 57 food and nutrition quality indicators culled from the literature and other authoritative sources as highly important for assessing the quality of food and nutrition services in ALFs for older adults. The experts preferred a food and nutrition service style that emphasized both health and amenities. However, practitioners with extensive experiences in a field sometimes have quite different views than experts. In order to learn if dietitians who were actually practicing in ALFs also rated the FANCI checklist indicators as highly important, we surveyed individuals who belonged to the Gerontological Nutritionists Dietetic Practice Group (GN-DPG) and the Consulting Dietitians in Health Care Facilities Dietetic Practice Group (CDHCF-DPG) of the American Dietetic Association. We asked them to evaluate the utility of different items in the FANCI checklist for assessing food and nutrition services in ALF’s for older adults, and identified differences between their views and those of the national experts. We also studied the style of food and nutrition service delivery that the dietitians preferred; and the effects of their backgrounds, work experience, and personal views on the preferred service style. The 1281 respondents rated the importance of each checklist item and provided their views on the role of ALFs and their level of agreement with statements regarding the importance of residents’ autonomy for making food choices and their ability to make wise dietary choices. Dietitians practicing in ALFs considered all of the domains on food and nutrition quality indicators on the FANCI checklist to be highly important (92% of dining room environment items, 83% of food service operations, 92% of general nutrition and 89% of therapeutic nutrition items). They preferred a service style that included both health and amenities, as did national health and aging experts. Dietitians should work with other professionals to further validate the checklist, promote its use, and establish optimal service models for food and nutrition services in ALFs for older adults.

Technical Abstract: This study assessed the utility of the 57 indicator FANCI checklist for assessing food and nutrition services in assisted living facilities (ALFs) for older adults among dietitians. They were members of two American Dietetic Association practice groups focusing on aging and long term care and were also employed in ALFs. The 1281 respondents rated the importance of each checklist item and provided their views on the role of ALFs and their level of agreement with statements regarding the importance of residents’ autonomy for making food choices and their ability to make wise dietary choices. Dietitians practicing in ALFs considered all of the domains on food and nutrition quality indicators on the FANCI checklist to be highly important (92% of dining room environment items, 83% of food service operations, 92% of general nutrition and 89% of therapeutic nutrition items). They preferred a service style that included both health and amenities, as did national health and aging experts. Dietitians should work with other professionals to further validate the checklist, promote its use, and establish optimal service models for food and nutrition services in ALFs for older adults.