Optimizing the Ambiance During Mealtimes in Dutch Nursing Homes

February 12, 2009 updated by: Wageningen University
Optimizing the social and physical ambiance during mealtimes in Dutch nursing homes: implementation and evaluation of the effect with respect to quality of life, nutritional status and physical performance.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Study design: During six months the intervention group had their meals in family style, and the control group received the usual tray services.

Hypothesis: We hypothesized that the intervention program had a positive effect on quality of life, food intake, body weight, physical performance, and biochemical data (hematocrit, hemoglobin, leucocytes, ferretin, albumin, homocysteine and folate) among the residents in the intervention group, while these outcome measures would regularly decline among the residents in the control group.

Site and participants: Nursing homes volunteered to participate in the study. In each nursing home there was a control and intervention ward. Only residents with a chronic somatic disorder were included. Residents were excluded when they were in a terminal phase of a disease, had total parenteral feeding or were not able to give informed consent due to their physical or mental condition. The ethical committee and the client board of the nursing homes and the medical ethical committee of Wageningen University approved the study protocol.

Intervention: The intervention program lasted for six months and was based on an inventory research of mealtime ambiance models in the Netherlands. The program consisted of five aspects: table dressing, food services, staff protocol, residents' protocol, and mealtime protocol. Before the start of the meal, tables were set with tablecloths, full cutlery and plates. The cooked meal was served in dishes and residents had the opportunity to choose between two kinds of vegetables, two kinds of meat and potatoes.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment

120

Phase

  • Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Netherlands
    • Gelderland
      • Wageningen, Gelderland, Netherlands, 6700 EV
        • Wageningen University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

40 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

N/A

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Nursing home residents with a chronic somatic disease and long term care

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Residents were excluded when they were in a terminal phase of a disease, had total parenteral feeding or were not able to give informed consent due to their physical or mental condition.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Physical performance
Quality of life
Nutritional status

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Wageningen University

Collaborators

ZonMw: The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

April 1, 2002

Study Completion

December 1, 2003

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 15, 2005

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 15, 2005

First Posted (Estimate)

June 16, 2005

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

February 13, 2009

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 12, 2009

Last Verified

February 1, 2009

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2420.0021

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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