Assessment of DeMentia Nutrition Intervention Needs Among Care Recipients and carEgivers

Assessment of DeMentia Nutrition Intervention Needs Among Care Recipients and carEgivers

Nutrition is critical for disease prevention and brain health. Malnutrition and weight loss often affect persons with Alzheimer's dementia (PWD), worsening overall health and dementia. Informal caregivers (usually family members) perform many nutrition-related tasks as part of daily care such as food preparation and feeding. Limited research, however, suggests informal caregivers experience high rates of caregiver burden, malnutrition and low health literacy. More research is needed to uncover these and other factors that may contribute to malnutrition for both PWDs and their caregivers. Nutrition literacy, or ability to navigate nutrition information to select healthy food, may be an important caregiving factor that protects both individuals from experiencing nutritional decline. Although the NIH has increased funding to support caregiver research, caregiver interventions that include nutrition are lacking. The purpose of this study is to inform the design of a future nutrition intervention study.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Person with dementia: Must be an adult of any age, diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia or other dementia, reside at home with a family caregiver or domestic partner, and have weight records at a minimum of 2 timepoints.
• Caregiver: Must be at least 18 years old, English speaking, primary caregiver who is responsible for food planning, and no overt cognitive impairment.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Person with dementia: Frontal-temporal dementia, alcohol-related dementia, Huntington's disease, schizophrenia, manic-depressive disorder, or actively participating in nutrition intervention research.
• Caregiver: Visual impairments that prevent completing questionnaires or actively participating in nutrition intervention research.