Combining elements of the CO-OP Approach™ with education to promote healthy eating among older adults: A pilot study.
Deirdre R Dawson, Yael Bar, Fatim Ajwani and 5 others
PMID 36338514WHAT IT FOUND
Older adult volunteers found a diet group that combined education and self-set goals feasible and mostly helpful.
Food tracking became burdensome, and they wanted more peer support and individualization; this did not test whether diets or dementia risk changed.
Key findings
01Five women completed the intervention and follow-up interviews; four attended all group sessions, while one declined individual counselling.
02Participants' interviews produced four overarching themes: perceived active ingredients, suggested active ingredients, barriers to address, and elements for sustainability.
03Food tracking was described as burdensome by the second or third week, and participants wanted more peer support and more individualization.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Only five women took part, all volunteers who were already independent and highly educated, so the findings may not apply to more diverse or frailer older adults. The study did not measure whether diets changed, whether cognition changed, or whether dementia risk was affected; it only reported attendance and participants' views. Cognitive status was not formally assessed, although participants were functioning independently. The sample was a convenience sample, and the design was exploratory and qualitative, so themes cannot be treated as evidence of effectiveness. Participants' medical and detailed dietary histories were not collected, and written materials were not customised for each person.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that the approach changes diet or lowers dementia risk. It was a small pilot that only tested attendance and participants' views, with no objective diet or cognitive outcomes.