Quasi-experimental evaluation of a nutritional educational intervention among home support assistants for the elderly
Barberger-Gateau, P.; Helmer, C.; Ouret, S.; Gendron, B.
Revue d'Epidemiologie et de Sante Publique 54(3): 233-243
2006
ISSN/ISBN: 0398-7620 PMID: 16902384 Document Number: 598671
The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a nutritional education intervention on the knowledge and practice of home support assistants (HSAs) for the elderly in Gironde, France. The intervention group comprised of 132 HSAs who received the education programme; 134 HSAs who did not receive the intervention were included as controls. The education programme was conducted by a dietician during 2 half-day sessions in May-June 2004. Nutrition knowledge and practice were assessed using a questionnaire before (April 2004) and after (September 2004) the training period in each group. Complete data were obtained from 101 intervention participants and 106 controls, and were included in the analysis. The intervention group was significantly younger (P<0.05), less educated (P=0.01), and seldom participated in previous nutrition training (P<0.001) than the control group. Prior to intervention, the mean knowledge and practice scores were not significantly different between the 2 groups. The intervention group showed significant improvement in their knowledge score (mean gain, 2.5 points; P<0.001) after the training, where this score remained unchanged in the control group (mean gain, 0.5 point). The impact of nutrition education remained significant (P<0.0001) even after adjustment for different variables. In multivariate analysis, the practice scores before and after the intervention did not differ significantly. The satisfaction score among the trained HSAs was very high. It is concluded that a nutrition education programme can significantly improve the nutrition knowledge of HSAs for the elderly.