• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.47
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• pp.310-333
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• 2001

The purposes of this research were 1) to investigate the characteristics of the meal service participants; 2) to evaluate the food service utilization of the elderly; 3) to identify major factors that affect food service satisfaction of the participants in Chungchongbuk-Do. For doing this, 309 subjects were selected and the survey research method was adopted. The characteristics of the meal service participants were similar to the characteristics of general elderly population in Korea. The public assistant recipients were under representative in this sample, that is, most of elderly people who participated in meal service consisted of non public assistant recipients. It meant that meal service was not provided to low-income elderly people. The health status of the elderly people was stable to be able to attend to the meal service organizations. The most important reason to use a meal service was to see their friends. It showed that meal services played an important role to provide support systems to the elderly people in community. Thus, meal services should be provided to the elderly people with social services. In order to analyze the factors influencing food service satisfaction, multiple regression analysis was employed. The results showed that physical activity, contact with friends who met in meal service program, and the number of social services were the important variables to predict meal service satisfaction in this study. These findings contributed to a better understanding of developing a meal service planning. Several improvement strategies were recommended to provide effective meal services. First, socio-economical characteristics of the elderly should be considered to provide appropriate services. Second, meal services should be provided to the elderly people with social services. Third, home delivery meal services should be available to the home-bound elderly.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.33-48
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• 2000

This study was designed to examine the degree of dependence on dietary environment, evaluate the perception of metal service program and investigate factors affecting the demand for meal service programs for elderly parents. The purpose of this study provided the basic information for the development and systemization of meal service program for elderly. Eight hundred twenty semen adults who have elderly parents were surveyed using pre-designed written questionnaire. According to the results on the life environments of their elderly parents, psychological factors(41.7%), living condition(14.3%) and dietary environment (13.2%) had trouble. Physical and psychological conditions significantly affected the dietary environment(p<0.05). Only 9.2% of the subjects were already aware of recognized the meal service program for elderly, and the degree of recognition differed significantly by sex and education level. Women had better perception of meal service program for elderly than men. In men, they would expect to use congregate meal service(44.1%), home-delivered meal service (23.7%), nursing home meal service(16.9%) in order. On the other hand, for women, home-delivered meal service (41.2%), congregate meat service(44.1%), and nursing home meal service (16.8%) in order. Therefore there are significant differences between men and women what type they want(p<0.001). For those who haute both of the parents or either one of them, they would use more of congregate meal service (38.8%) and home-delivered meal service (38.8%) than nursing home meal service (15.5%). The group whose parents are lower socio-economic status would have tendency to use the nursing home meal service (p=0.06). The group of whom believe the dietary environment is the problem of their parents'life environment had preference of using congregate meal service and home-delivered meal service.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.553-564
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• 2001

The purpose of this research was to observe the management system of 18 free meal service centers for the low-income homebound elderly in Chungcheongbuk-Do In order researchers interviewed staff members of the free meal service centers. Based on the results of interviews with staff members of the meal service organization. only two centers used a standard recipe. and most of the meal preparation was controlled under the experience of volunteers. Only two meal service centers employed dietitians due to the lak of budgets. The cost of a meal per day ranged from ￦ 556 to ￦2,750 and the number of attendants at meal service ranged from 35 to 350 persons. The budget for most of the meal service centers is not enough to provide meals for the elderly who want to participated in free meal service programs. Home delivery meal service was not considered due to the lake of manpower and areal dispersion in rural ares. Most meal service organizations did not cooperate with other community service organizations. Several improvement strategies are recommended for the effective running of the free meal service centers. First, a nutrition specialist should be included in the staff members of the service organization to provide nutritious meal service to the elderly Second, a joint control system might be introduced into the present system to reduced the cost and the recover the limitations of areal dispersion. Third, service, coordination should be considered to overcome the problem of lake resources.

• Nutritional Sciences
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.53-66
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• 2003

This study was performed to assess the perception and need for the elderly meal service program of the Korean elderly. The purpose of this study was to assess the dietary environment factors which are related to the perception and need for such service. Subjects of this study were 800 elderly persons of whom responses were received from 769(male: 26, female: 543) aged over 60 years. Their mean age was 7.51 $\pm$8.1 years. Seventy two point two percent of them lived with their family and 54.5% of them were supported economically by their children. Among their meal management behaviors, food purchasing was hard to perform and the most aid-needed activity. In their dietary environment, 47.1% of them were supported by their children. The percent of the subjects who were aware of the elderly meal service program was 48.4%. Men were more aware of the meal service program than women(p<0.01). Elderly who were supported by government were more aware of this service than others. Elderly who were in poor dietary environment, were less affluent or had trouble preparing meals expressed better perception this service than others (p<0.05). Those who requested meal services had poor dietary environment than those who did not (p<0.001). The elderly who were younger, with higher income, and lived with a spouse had more demand for home delivered meal service. This study showed that the poorer the greater desire for meal services. Therefore, the need for urgent improvement and expansion of meal services for elderly is suggested by this study.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.298-308
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• 2013

The elderly population in Korea is rapidly growing. As the population ages, meals become a greater concern, as physical and psychological health problems are directly affected by dietary life, especially for the lower-income elderly. Although the government provides support through a free congregate meal service, there is a lack of systematic management of this meal service. This study investigates the experience of the elderly, especially the symbolic meaning and issues regarding the congregate meal service in their dietary life, to establish strategies for improving congregate meal services. Qualitative data was collected from ten elderly receivers of meal services through in-depth interviews and data was analyzed using Colaizzi's phenomenological research methods. Overall, 90 significant statements, 13 formulated meanings, and five theme clusters were deduced. The five theme clusters for the importance of meal services to the elderly included the followings: "a real meal", "enjoyment of living", "maintenance of regular life", "place for social life" and "meal of silence". We found that the elderly regarded the congregate free meal service not only as meals to appreciate but also as a form of social life. Furthermore, the elderly did not typically express any complaints regarding congregate meal services because they are free. The results showed that it might be difficult to evaluate the quality of meal services based on the opinions of the service receivers. This study suggests it is necessary to develop multilateral evaluation methods to reflect the needs of the elderly and to improve the congregate meal services at elderly welfare centers.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.589-596
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• 2013

As the importance of elderly's dietary life have increased, low-income elderly's meal should be taken care by social policies. Nevertheless, there is a lack of systematic management in home-delivery meal service. This study aims to investigate the elderly's experience on home-delivered meal service, especially identifying the symbolic meaning of home-delivered meal service on elderly's dietary life. Using an in-depth interview, qualitative data was collected from five elderly participants who received home-delivered meals. Data was analyzed based on Colaizzi's 6 steps method, deriving 148 significant statements, 18 formulated meanings, and 5 themes: , , , , and . Elderly participants regarded the home delivered meal as not only a decent meal but also felt appreciated. The home-delivered meals were found to be their only meal all day; thus, they considered these meals as a means of survival. Home-delivered meals are considered as a lack of consideration for the elderly's physical condition, including their tastes, portion size, and cooking method. Also, these elderly seemed to lose their appetite due to aging and it caused the enjoyment of eating. The elderly have kept silence never expressing any opinions regarding the home delivered meals because they were offered for free. The results suggested that the home-delivered meal service should be developed with the multilateral evaluation methods to reflect the elderly's needs to improve the quality of the home-delivered meal service.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.246-255
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• 1997

This study was designed to find out opinions about free congregate site meals that the program served to improve nutritional status of low socio-economic elderly. This study was conducted in Sungnam-shi. The purpose of this study provided the baseline data to extend the meal service program in this area. Five hundred samples were selcted by the propotion of population in three districts(Sujung-gu, Jungwon-gu, Bundang-gu). The result were as follows. 72.8$\%$of subjects were women and 27.2$\%$of subjects were extended family type. Seventy$\%$ of respondant were not aware of the free meal service for elderly. Major channels of information about free meal service were mass media(33.8$\%$)and advertisement material from city (24.3$\%$). The rate of recognition and channels of information about free meal service were different according to demographic characteristics of subjects. Sixty-eight of subjects pointed that the meal service program was highly necessary in these areas and the necessity of the program was not significantly different by socio-economic variables. The group who know about free meal service had a positive attitude toward supporting the meal service program. Women preferred labor volunteers(46.8$\%$)at meal service center and men preferred donations. According to levels of education each group preferred different types of surpport for free congregate site meals for elderly. (Korean J Community Nutrition 2(2) : 246~255, 1997)

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.114-127
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• 2003

In the process of devising an efficient meal service system for the elderly, 478 elderly were interviewed at 6 different social centers with the elderly meal service program in Seoul area to monitor degree of satisfaction and/or needs of the beneficiaries regarding the program. The survey was conducted during the month of December 2002 by well-trained interviewers using self-developed questionnaire. Results were analyzed statistically using SAS package program. Most of the beneficiaries were low economic class and 76% of them had doctor diagnosed disease(s). Among the beneficiaries of congregate meal service, mean score of 12 aspects of satisfaction was 3.72 out of 5. For most of the questions, female elderly and healthy elderly responded with higher score than male elderly and unhealthy elderly, respectively (p<0.05, p<0.01). On the other hand, beneficiaries of the home-delivered meal service were little bit less satisfied with the service (3.54 out of 5). Compared to the beneficiaries of congregate meal service, larger portion of beneficiaries of home-delivered meal service wanted more meats (28.5 % vs. 17.1 %) and vegetables (23.2 % vs. 12.3 %) as side dishes. On the other hand, the most preferred type of cooking and/or seasoning was stewing for both cases. Based on these findings, it is suggested that more fresh foods should be used than processed foods in the preparation of meals for the elderly and, more fish-, meat- and vegetable- dishes should be served to come up to the needs of the elderly. Onto this, mainly Korean style meals with some intermittent Western, Japanese or Chinese style meals served at the right temperature would suffice most of the elderly needs.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.303-310
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to compare the nutrient intake and foodservice satisfaction of homebound elderly had lunch at the local community centers by the difference of meal service charge. Two local community center with cons-regate meal service program located in Daegu and Gyongsan were selected; one with free of meal service charge (F), and the other with 500-1,000 won for meal service charge (K), According to the dietary assessment, energy and nutrient intakes of the 156 elderly subjects were as a whole under the Korean Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA). Elderly or F service conte. showed higher $\%$ RDA for the selected nutrients and MAR (mean adequacy ratio) than those of K service center (p<0.001). Participants were satisfied with most of the congregation meal service from community conte. with different reasons such as 'tasty (K service center)' and 'free of charge (F service center)'. In conclusion, elderly had the lunch at the community center with free of meal service charge was poor nutrition status and lower socioeconomic level than the other type of community center in this area. Therefore, healthy menu for elderly should be developed and managed by professional dietitian, as well as its impact on health status of this group, and congregate meal service system might be extended to the homebound elderly of whole community with free of charge.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.74-82
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• 2000

This study was designed to determine the attitude and degree of satisfaction of recipients toward the meal service program for elderly people. Nine hundred and eight elderly people(male: 301, female: 607) were interviewed by trained personnel. The results were as follows. Forty two percent of them had no income and 43.8% of the respondents were supported economically by the government. Their main reasons for attending the free congregated meal program was economic hardship(37.9%) The channels of becoming aware of the free meal program were through their friends(33.4%) and the meal service centers were located in the respondents residence area(36.0%) Thus any other advertisement from local government of official channels about the free meal program were not effective for the elderly 26.9% of the respondents felt inconvenience in visiting the meal service centers because they had some difficulty in walking, 53.5% of them however answered that they didn t have any complains and were quite satisfied with the meal service. The average satisfaction score for the free meal service was 63.4(maximum score 75) As for each evaluation item respondents were highly satisfied with volunteers attitude in meal serving(4.58$\pm$0.65: maximum 5 point) The evaluation score of females was generally lower than that of males(p<0.05) Oncemore, respondents who were in lowere socio-economic classes were marked by having significantly lower satisfaction scores for the meal service compared with higher scocio-economic classes. For the welfare of elderly people, meal service programs should be extended to more elderly persons and developed considering the elderlys ecological factors.