Mealtime interventions typically focus on institutionalised older adults, but we wanted to investigate whether they may also be effective among those living independently. Using a randomised controlled trial design, we assessed the effects of a novel mealtime intervention on self-efficacy, food enjoyment and energy intake. A total of 100 adults living alone aged over 60 years were randomised to the treatment or control conditions: all received a guidebook on nutrition and culinary skills. Treatment group participants received a weekly visit from a trained volunteer who prepared and shared a meal with them. Participants in the treatment group showed improvements relative to those in the control group at borderline significance (P=0·054) for self-efficacy and at significance for food enjoyment. Significant improvements were observed in female participants in the treatment but not in the control group in energy intake (although following corrections for multiple comparisons, only the effect on food enjoyment remained significant). These findings will inform the design of future complex interventions. For this type of intervention to be successful, more focus has to be placed on making interventions more personalised, potentially according to sex. Findings are important for nutritional sciences as they indicate that, in order to improve energy intake and food enjoyment among older adults, multimodal nutritional interventions including social components may be successful.

BackgroundOlder adults living alone are at increased risk of malnutrition as well as social isolation. Previous research has evaluated psychosocial interventions aimed at improving social support for older adults living alone. One meta-analysis in particular has suggested that multimodal psychosocial interventions are more effective than unimodal interventions. As such, it may be more effective to deliver an intervention which combines nutritional and social support together. Consequently, we designed the RelAte intervention, which focuses on shared mealtimes as a source of combined social and nutritional support for older adults living alone who are at risk of social isolation.ObjectiveThe objective of the RelAte trial was to evaluate the impact of such an intervention on energy intake, anthropometric measurements, and nutritional social cognitive variables among older adults living alone in the community.MethodsThere are 100 participants that will be recruited and randomized to either the treatment (n=50) or the control group. The treatment group will receive a visit from a trained peer volunteer once weekly for a period of 8 weeks. Outcomes of interest include: energy intake, social cognitive factors related to diet, abdominal circumference, body mass index, psychosocial well-being, frailty, nutritional status, and health utilities. Outcomes will be obtained at baseline, immediately postintervention (8 weeks after baseline), 12-week follow-up, and 26-week follow-up by assessors blinded to participants’ randomized assignment.ResultsThe Relate trial is currently active. We are currently at data analysis stage. The study started in June 2013 and will run until June 2015.ConclusionsResults from this study will primarily describe the effectiveness of a shared mealtime intervention for older adults living alone in terms of their dietary well-being, physical health, and psychosocial well-being.Trial RegistrationTrial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02007551; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00102401 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation/6WptuVTtz).

Volunteers found their involvement in the intervention to be personally beneficial, and revealed some valuable considerations for the researchers to take forward to future research. Results are pertinent to intervention design and could inform future social cognitive and other peer-oriented interventions for older adults living alone.

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