Cooking for One or Two: Applying Participatory Action Research to improve community‐dwelling older adults’ health and well‐being

Abstract

Utilising the Participatory Action Research process resulted in an expanded set of materials for Cooking for One or Two that can enable older people to engage in peer-to-peer education and to take care of their nutritional and social health. The process is a valuable example of the success of ongoing collaboration between researchers and program developers with the target population. SO WHAT?: While the research team developed evidence-based content for the expanded program, the key to success was the continued engagement with the target population. This engagement fostered a sense of ownership over the program by participants and has led to continued support by the target population.

Co-Design Practices in Diet and Nutrition Research: An Integrative Review

“…The 22 included studies were from ten countries: seven from the USA [ 28 , 33 , 34 , 41 , 45 , 47 , 49 ]; three each from Australia [ 24 , 25 , 27 ] and Sweden [ 40 , 44 , 48 ]; two from the Netherlands [ 29 , 30 ] and the UK (Bangladeshi migrant community) [ 36 , 51 ]; and one each from Canada [ 26 ], Brazil [ 39 ], Belgium [ 43 ], Iran [ 46 ] and Malaysia [ 50 ].…”

“…However, they each used a participatory technique within the context of intervention development. Eleven studies reached a consultative (second lowest) level of participation [ 40 , 41 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ], eight studies reached collaborative (second highest) levels [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 33 , 34 , 36 , 39 ], and three reached collegiate (highest) levels of participation [ 24 , 25 , 26 ].…”

“…Participant demographics varied across studies. Participants included Indigenous adults from Australia and Canada [ 24 , 26 ], community-dwelling older adults [ 27 , 29 , 50 ], African American women and children [ 28 , 33 , 35 ], health professionals [ 25 , 29 , 50 , 51 ], workplace employees [ 32 , 39 ], individuals with chronic disease [ 25 , 29 , 36 , 44 , 45 , 47 , 48 , 50 , 51 ], healthy individuals [ 43 , 49 , 51 ], weight loss program clients [ 40 , 46 ], and women with diet-controlled gestational diabetes mellitus [ 41 ]. The age of participants ranged from 18 to 65 years or more.…”

“…Of the included studies, 13 reported involving other stakeholders other than end-users/members of the target population in the intervention development process. Stakeholders consisted of community organisations [ 26 , 36 , 51 ], health professionals [ 29 , 36 , 39 , 45 , 50 , 51 ], food retail [ 26 ], food product developers [ 29 ], catering providers [ 32 , 39 , 49 ], public enterprise [ 32 ], primary healthcare [ 26 ], health promotion experts [ 27 ], students from disciplines other than nutrition [ 27 , 28 ], tutors [ 44 ], visual communication experts [ 50 ] and staff from a software company [ 29 , 36 , 39 , 45 , 50 , 51 ].…”

“…The three collegiate studies, which represent the highest level of stakeholder engagement, utilised various methods including the photo-voice method [ 24 ], workshops [ 25 , 26 ], interviews [ 26 ], stakeholder meetings [ 26 ] and dietary assessment [ 26 ]. Across remaining studies, focus groups were most common ( n = 9) [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 32 , 33 , 35 , 36 , 39 , 45 ], followed by tailoring of intervention content to individual’s preferences, characteristics, or needs ( n = 5) [ 40 , 43 , 46 , 48 , 49 ], and surveys ( n = 5) [ 29 , 33 , 41 , 47 , 50 ].…”