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A study on the diet and nutrition management status and educational needs in elderly care facilities in Korea: focus group interviews with staff from children’s and social welfare meal management support centers and elderly care facilities
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Seo Young Choi, Hyun joo Ryou, Jieun Oh
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Received May 20, 2025 Accepted July 2, 2025 Published online August 1, 2025
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2025.00143
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Abstract
PubReader ePub
- Objectives
In this study, we identified the current status of meal and nutritional management in elderly care facilities and analyzed the educational needs of employees, with the goal of proposing effective support strategies for nutritional management and to suggest directions for developing customized educational content.
Methods Between May and June 2024, we conducted nine focus group interviews with 22 participants recruited from 10 cities across four major regions of Korea, including 13 employees of children and social welfare meal management support centers and nine employees of elderly care facilities.
Results Our findings revealed that supporting algorithm-based dietary planning, improving communication with caregivers, and providing flexible, practical education tailored to facility conditions, are key elements for enhancing nutritional management in elderly care facilities. To facilitate the translation of these insights into practice, it will be necessary to strengthen collaboration between centers and facilities, combined with efforts to improve the operational environment for applying the algorithm and providing continuous educational support.
Conclusion The findings of this study emphasize the importance of on-site education and sustainable support strategies based on the diet and nutritional management status and education needs of elderly care facilities. Strengthening practical education, communication systems, and center–facility collaboration is required, and future research needs to verify the efficacy of these measures and define a sustainable support system based on quantitative analysis.
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