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Barriers to nutritional well-being for rural elders: community experts' perceptions
T A Arcury1, S A Quandt, R A Bell
1Center for Urban and Regional Studies, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599, USA. tom_arcury@unc.edu
The Gerontologist
|September 3, 1998
Summary
Service providers and community experts identified barriers to older adult nutrition, including county factors, transportation, economics, and health. They may overlook the link between services and nutritional outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Public Health
- Nutrition Science
Background:
- Older adults rely on various services and personal resources for nutritional needs.
- Understanding barriers to adequate nutrition is crucial for this demographic.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore service providers' and community experts' perceptions of barriers to adequate nutrition among older adults in rural North Carolina.
Main Methods:
- In-depth interviews were conducted with 73 service providers and community experts.
- Qualitative analysis of interview data focused on perceived nutritional barriers.
Main Results:
- Perceived barriers encompassed county characteristics, program accessibility, transportation, social support (kin), and older adults' medical, economic, and behavioral factors.
- The perceived importance of these barriers varied based on the respondent's expertise.
- A disconnect was noted, with experts potentially not linking their services to older adults' nutritional well-being.
Conclusions:
- Addressing older adult nutrition requires understanding multifaceted barriers from provider and expert perspectives.
- Interventions should consider the varied importance of barriers across different domains and expertise areas.
- Enhancing awareness among service providers about the impact of their services on nutrition is recommended.