So often research is undertaken ‘on’ people, not ‘with’ them. Our research team in collaboration with RACF staff and managers, and the ROAR advisory group are listening. Our current project “What would like for lunch?” explores RACF residents understanding of nutrition and malnutrition, and their dining experience.

Results so far

Our team has run focus groups with RACF residents. Two rounds of focus groups have been completed to explore resident understanding of nutrition and their mealtime experience.

To date, our team has identified the following preliminary findings from resident focus groups:

• residents relied on their RACF for nutrition provision (given their contractual obligation),
• barriers to good nutrition exist (including environmental detractors and staffing issues),
• enablers for good nutrition exist (such as social dining experiences and appealing food choices), and
• recommendations for malnutrition interventions (including providing nutritional information, access to dietitians, and improving meal quality and variety). 

With more information, this project will provide the foundations for larger projects where the resident’s voice can guide future nutrition research.

What’s Involved

Residents living within RACF have been sharing their experiences with us. Now it’s family members turn. We are looking to document the family perspective on nutrition and dining experience in RACFs.  This is often difficult given families live far away or have their own work and family commitments. We need RACF managers to reach out to families and involve them in this important project.

Contact us today if you are interested in collaborating.