The Elderly Nutrition Program (ENP) is being challenged to improve the quality of meal programs. The purpose of this study was to explore how food preferences varied depending on gender and ethnic groups. A total of 2,024 participants in the ENP aged 60 years or older were interviewed. A majority of the participants were female (74.7%), served by congregate meal programs (71.7%), with the mean ± SD age of 76.9 ± 9.2 years. A general impression of the meals and preferences for 13 food groups (fresh fruit, chicken, soup, salad, vegetables, potatoes, meat, sandwiches, pasta, canned fruit, legumes, deli meats, and ethnic foods) were assessed. After adjusting other variables, older males were significantly more likely to prefer deli meats, meat, legumes, canned fruit, and ethnic foods compared to females. In addition, compared with African Americans, Caucasians demonstrated higher percentages of preference for 9 of 13 food groups including pasta, meat, and fresh fruit. To improve the quality of the ENP, and to increase dietary compliance of the older adults to the programs, the nutritional services require a strategic meal plan that solicits and incorporates older adults' food preferences.

Throughout its one hundred plus years of history, the Cooperative Extension System has experienced many changes. Since its beginning, the Extension System has revolutionized nonformal educational approaches and outreach methods. However, these changes have also created issues such as role ambiguity, work-life conflict, work-life spillover, burnout, stress, and work-life imbalance among Extension professionals. There are very few currently existing publications that identify present day work-life balance issues in Extension. Most of such information is dated and irrelevant to current workings of Extension. To give more in-depth insights on this subject, a number of well-established theories, such as compensation, spillover, inter-role conflict, and role enhancement theories, are discussed in this publication. These theories are selected based on their relatability with Extension. Hence, this article was created with an intent to encourage a dialogue concerning current work-life balance issues within Extension. The article also illustrates a conceptual theoretical perspective–a three-tier approach to work-life balance in Extension. This approach discusses elements, such as individual awareness, environmental factors, and organizational policies, to inculcate positive work-life balance practices. This proposed approach could be a guide to creating a more positive work culture, improving work-life satisfaction among Extension employees, and boosting organizational competence and productivity.

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