Analysis of Menu Management in Korean Welfare Institutions for Mental - Disorders

한국 정신 요양 시설의 식단관리 분석

The purpose of this study was to improve menu management of welfare institutions for mental-disorders. Special objectives were: to analyze dietitians' special considerations for menu planning in the view of nutrition, recipients' food preferences, and foodservice management; and to interprete menus by food groups and food costs. An open-ended questionnaire was developed and sent to 55 dietitians of welfare institutions for mental-disorders by a fax. Dietitians were asked to write their special considerations for menu planning relating to the nutrition, recipients, and menu management. A total of 46 dietitians responded to the questionnaires. Also, 32 weekly menus were sent to analyze in this study. Results of this study showed that dietitians considered specially energy, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and fats for recipients's health conditions and daily RDA. However, dietitians wanted more information about right menu plan manuals for psychiatric patients. Analysis of weekly menus showed that milk and milk products were th most insufficient serving food group in these institutions. Also, snacks (p<0.05)and milk products (p<0.05) serving was significantly affected by higher food costs. The results implicated that future research on menu development should be necessary for nutritional balanced meal services in welfare institutions.