Operation and Process Evaluation of a Community Meal Program for the Elderly in Rural Areas during Agricultural Off-Season Perceived by Cooking Volunteers

Article information

Korean J Community Nutr. 2019;24(4):277-289

Publication date (electronic) : 2019 August 31

doi : https://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2019.24.4.277

Jeong-Sook Bae ¹

, Sol-Bee Seong ¹

, So-Mang Jang ¹

, Chang-Hee Yoo ²

, Young-Suk Lim ³

, Young-Mi Lee ⁴

, Hae-Ryun Park ⁴

, Kyung-Eun Lee ⁵

¹Major of Food and Nutrition, Seoul Women's University, Seoul, Korea, Graduate Student.

²Major of Food and Nutrition, Seoul Women's University, Seoul, Korea, Visiting Professor.

³Department of Food and Nutrition, Myongji University, Yongin, Gyeonggi, Korea, Research Professor.

⁴Department of Food and Nutrition, Myongji University, Yongin, Gyeonggi, Korea, Professor.

⁵Major of Food and Nutrition, Seoul Women's University, Seoul, Korea, Professor.

Corresponding author: Kyung-Eun Lee. Major of Food and Nutrition, Seoul Women's University, 621 Hwarang-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul 01797, Korea. Tel: (02) 970-5648, Fax: (02) 976-4049, klee@swu.ac.kr

Received 2019 June 09; Revised 2019 July 09; Accepted 2019 July 09.

Abstract

Objectives

This study examined the practices of a community meal program for older adults in rural areas during the agricultural off-season.

Methods

A survey was conducted from December 12 to December 22, 2016. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 150 cooking volunteers, who had participated in the community meal program in 50 villages. A total of 114 responses were returned from 44 villages and used for data analysis. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with the volunteers of eight villages.

Results

Most of the cooking volunteers were 50 years old or older and they participated in serving older adults meals for good will. The cooking volunteers perceived that the older adults in their community did not eat various foods, had difficulties in grocery shopping, and frequently consumed salty foods. During the agricultural off-season, 40.9% of villages served the older adults meals 6–7 days a week and 95.5% provided meals for lunch. An average of 21 to 40 older adults were served meals in each village. The cooking volunteers reported that the food preparation and meal service times were sufficient, recipes provided were useful, and menus met the preference of the older adults. At the end of the program, they felt proud of serving meals for older adults in the community. An increased awareness of healthy eating, interest in health, and consumption of nutritious meals, a decrease in loneliness among older adults, and the promotion of fellowship in the community were rated highly. The cooking volunteers expected additional support for cooking personnel and insisted that the program should be provided for the entire agricultural off-seasons.

Conclusions

The community meal program during the agricultural off-season for the elderly in rural areas was effective in improving the dietary life of older adults, relieving their feelings of isolation, and promoting fellowship of the community. The volunteers felt workload due to a shortage of volunteers but answered that they were rewarded by helping older adults in their community.

Keywords: elderly; rural areas; agricultural off-season; cooking volunteers; community meal program

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant from Korea Food Education Network in 2016.

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The Korean Society of Community Nutrition

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Funded by : Korea Food Education Network

Fig. 1

Service styles of community meal program in rural areas

Table 1

General characteristic of cooking volunteers

Table 2

Operations of community meal program for the elderly in rural areas during agricultural off-season

1) Number of village

Table 3

Dietary problems of the rural elderly perceived by cooking volunteers

A 5-point Likert scale was used from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

abc: Different superscripts within the same row mean significant differences by Duncan's post-hoc test (p<0.05).

Table 4

Practices of the community meal program for the elderly in rural areas perceived by cooking volunteers by region

A 5-point Likert scale was used from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

abc: Different superscripts within the same row mean significant differences by Duncan's post-hoc test (p<0.05).

Table 5

Practices of the community meal program for the elderly in rural areas perceived by cooking volunteers by their age, number of meals/day, and number of volunteers

A 5-point Likert scale was used from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

abc: Different superscripts within the same row mean significant differences by Duncan's post-hoc test (p<0.05).

Table 6

The effectiveness of community meal program for the elderly in rural areas perceived by cooking volunteers

1) Number of village

A 5-point Likert scale was used from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).