KIHASA has published Health and Welfare Issue & Focus, No. 426, "Improving Meal Care Services for Community-dwelling Older Persons by Way of Improving the Competence of the Eldercare Workforce," which sums up a research led by Kim Jeongseon, a research fellow of the Center for Food and Drug Policy Research, KIHASA.

"Korea's rapid population aging is increasing health expenditures for its elderly population, when many of the older adults are having a low quality of life due to the deterioration of their health," Kim said in the brief. "Health is a key determinant of the quality of life in older persons, for whom dietary conditions can be a direct effect on their health. The current trend is such that, with the rapid rise of the nuclear family, older persons are increasingly living on their own, apart from their adult children. Older adults who have no adult children around to prepare meals for them may suffer a deterioration in their dietary quality or even nutritional deficiency."

Emphasizing the importance of meal care programs for the elderly as part of the integrated community care initiative, Kim defined such meal care as to provide older adults with nutritionally-balanced meals tailored to their age and health status and to assist with feeding as needed. According to her, for older adults whose activities of daily living are broadly impaired by their health conditions, mealtime might be the chief source of enjoyment and delightful curiosity, a means of keeping themselves connected with their family and neighbors, the time of day when they are at their most active and most nutrient-consuming. 

"As the population continues to age, the economically-productive population gets smaller. Consequently, there is a growing shortage of workers in the culinary sector. Older adults who are living on their own in their homes, regardless of their economic situations, are liable to have a simplistic, nutritionally inadequate diet. Thus, there is an urgent need for policy-driven meal care services that are tailored to the needs of older persons, a population especially prone to dietary deficiencies," Kim emphasized.

Click Research in Brief 2022-12, "Improving Meal Care Services for Community-dwelling Older Persons by Way of Improving the Competence of the Eldercare Workforce," a full translation of this issue of Health and Welfare Issue & Focus.

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