Advocating for Nutrition Education, Promotion, and Care Among Dementia Residents: Considerations for Long-Term Care Professionals

Abstract

In 2015, a total of 5.3 million Americans had dementia. As the number of older adults continues to grow, the older adult population with dementia conditions is expected to increase from its current number of 5.1 million to 7.1 million by 2025, representing a 40% increase. This exponential growth places a tremendous burden on long-term care facilities at a rapid pace. Taking care of residents with dementia has already proven to be a costly undertaking with the care given to these individuals in 2014 amounting to 17.9 billion hours in unpaid hourly care. One area of care that is often neglected is the proper nutrition of dementia residents. Dementia residents often have problems with appetite and they may fail to completely consume their provided meals if no one is there to encourage them to eat. Proper nutrition is crucial for dementia patients not only to prevent weight loss, but also to slow the progress of the condition. Nutritional feeding helps to promote the health of dementia residents, and gives them the emotional stability that facilitates in coping with the condition. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to provide long-term care professionals with a listing of current rules and regulations for providing dietary rights to dementia residents as well as various strategies to advocate for nutritional education, promotion, and care policy changes for older adults in long-term care facilities with dementia. Additionally, this paper provides a collaborative framework for nutritional care delivery between long-term care communities and family members that healthcare professionals can implement at their facilities in the future.