'Feta is obviously very dangerous stuff looking at all those reds': Can nutrition labelling help people living with type 2 diabetes to self-manage their condition?

Background: The consumption of a healthy balanced diet is the cornerstone of treatment for people living with type 2 diabetes (PLWT2DM). The United Kingdom recommends a standardised voluntary front-of-pack food labelling system which uses the green-amber-red colour coding to indicate the presence of nutrients in a food item. Research with PLWT2DM suggests that they may find it challenging to interpret the information on food labels.

Meals on wheels services and the food security of older people.

In recent years, Meals on Wheels (MoW) services have been in a state of decline as austerity policies have become entrenched. However, this decline is occurring with little knowledge of the impact withdrawal of MoW services has on the health and well-being of those who use them. The pandemic has raised awareness of precarity and vulnerability in relation to food that affects many people in the UK and other Westernised countries and this provides further context for the analysis presented.

Changes to household food shopping practices during the COVID-19 restrictions: Evidence from the East of England.

Measures to control the spread of COVID-19 have changed the way we shop for food and interact with food environments. This qualitative study explored food shopping practices in the East of England, a large diverse region including coastal, urban and rural settings. In 2020/2021 we interviewed 38 people living in the region and 27 professionals and volunteers providing local support around dietary health.

A suite of evaluation resources for Dementia Friendly Communities: Development and guidance for use.

Objectives: In the context of a growing number of dementia friendly communities (DFCs) globally, a need remains for robust evaluation, and for tools to capture relevant evidence. This paper reports the development of a suite of evaluation resources for DFCs through a national study in England.

Methods: Fieldwork took place in six diverse case study sites across England.

Dementia-friendly communities: The involvement of people living with dementia.

Background: Dementia Friendly Communities (DFCs) offer an approach to community engagement to improve the lives of people living with dementia and their family supporters. The involvement of those living with dementia is key to creating successful DFCs. This paper examines how people affected by dementia were involved in developing and designing DFCs in England, and the impact of their involvement.

Tracking and treating malnutrition: a retrospective observational study of the nutritional status of vulnerable people accessing a meals-on-wheels (MOW) service.

Aim: The aims of the study were to describe the characteristics of meals-on-wheels (MOW) recipients, including prevalence of malnutrition amongst those who have received input from the Nutrition and Wellbeing Service (NWS) and to explore whether the NWS had an impact on the nutritional status (malnutrition risk) of recipients over time.

Background: Support services, for example, MOW, play an important role in the prevention and treatment of malnutrition in the community. In the UK, MOW services are under threat.

Therapy-based exercise from the perspective of adult patients: a qualitative systematic review conducted using an ethnographic approach.

Objectives: Many patients do not meet recommended levels of therapy-based exercise. This review aims to explore how adult patients view being prescribed therapy-based exercise, the information/education they are given and receive and if/how they independently practise and adhere.

Design: A qualitative systematic review conducted using an ethnographic approach and in accordance with the PRISMA statement.

Information in radiotherapy for men with localised prostate cancer: An integrative review.

Introduction: Men with prostate cancer may receive radiotherapy as part of their management. They encounter a range of information related to radiotherapy, and a crucial role for therapeutic radiographers and other healthcare practitioners is ensuring patients receive appropriate information related to their treatment. This integrative review aims to identify, synthesise and analyse literature reporting experiences of men with localised prostate cancer related to information in radiotherapy.

"It just happens". Care home residents' experiences and expectations of accessing GP care.

Background: Care homes provide personal care and support for older people who can no longer be supported in the community. As part of a larger study of integrated working between the NHS and care homes we asked older people how they accessed health care services. Our aim was to understand how older people resident in care homes access health services using the Andersen model of health care access.

Effectiveness of interventions to indirectly support food and drink intake in people with dementia: Eating and Drinking Well IN dementiA (EDWINA) systematic review.

Background: Risks and prevalence of malnutrition and dehydration are high in older people but even higher in older people with dementia. In the EDWINA (Eating and Drinking Well IN dementiA) systematic review we aimed to assess effectiveness of interventions aiming to improve, maintain or facilitate food/drink intake indirectly, through food service or dining environment modification, education, exercise or behavioural interventions in people with cognitive impairment or dementia (across all settings, levels of care and support, types and degrees of dementia).

Methods: We comprehensively searched Medline and twelve further databases, plus bibliographies, for intervention studies with ≥3 cognitively impaired adult participants (any type/stage).

Effectiveness of interventions to directly support food and drink intake in people with dementia: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Eating and drinking difficulties are recognised sources of ill health in people with dementia. In the EDWINA (Eating and Drinking Well IN dementiA) systematic review we aimed to assess effectiveness of interventions to directly improve, maintain or facilitate oral food and drink intake, nutrition and hydration status, in people with cognitive impairment or dementia (across all settings, levels of care and support, types and degrees of dementia). Interventions included oral nutrition supplementation, food modification, dysphagia management, eating assistance and supporting the social element of eating and drinking.

Public involvement in research within care homes: benefits and challenges in the APPROACH study.

Background: Public involvement in research (PIR) can improve research design and recruitment. Less is known about how PIR enhances the experience of participation and enriches the data collection process. In a study to evaluate how UK care homes and primary health-care services achieve integrated working to promote older people's health, PIR was integrated throughout the research processes.

'I don't think I ever had food poisoning'. A practice-based approach to understanding foodborne disease that originates in the home.

Food stored, prepared, cooked and eaten at home contributes to foodborne disease which, globally, presents a significant public health burden. The aim of the study reported here was to investigate, analyse and interpret domestic kitchen practices in order to provide fresh insight about how the domestic setting might influence food safety. Using current theories of practice meant the research, which drew on qualitative and ethnographic methods, could investigate people and material things in the domestic kitchen setting whilst taking account of people's actions, values, experiences and beliefs.

Food safety and older people: the Kitchen Life study.

Foodborne illness (FBI) is a major public health problem in the UK. Recent increases in cases of listeriosis in older people have focused attention on consumer food-related practices. Previous studies highlight poor relationships between what people know, what they say they do and what they actually do in the kitchen.

Preventing falls among older people with mental health problems: a systematic review.

Background: Falls are a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in older people and the risk of falling is exacerbated by mental health conditions. Existing reviews have focused on people with dementia and cognitive impairment, but not those with other mental health conditions or in mental health settings. The objective of this review is to evaluate the effectiveness of fall prevention interventions for older people with mental health problems being cared for across all settings.

Reducing emergency bed-days for older people? Network governance lessons from the 'Improving the Future for Older People' programme.

In 2007, the UK government set performance targets and public service agreements to control the escalation of emergency bed-days. Some years earlier, nine English local authorities had each created local networks with their health and third sector partners to tackle this increase. These networks formed the 'Improving the Future for Older People' initiative (IFOP), one strand of the national 'Innovation Forum' programme, set up in 2003.

Practitioner and patient experiences of giving and receiving healthy eating advice.

This article explores the content of discussion by patients and practitioners where they were invited to talk about food and diet. A qualitative methodology using focus groups was employed within one Primary Care Trust in the east of England. Patients described their desire for access to nutritional guidance in primary care and their feelings of powerlessness when following dietary advice.

A protocol for a systematic review of research on managing behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia for community-dwelling older people: evidence mapping and syntheses.

Background: Non-cognitive behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia affect up to 90% of people with dementia during the disease course and result in distress, increased carer burden, high service utilization and unwanted moves to care homes. Research has focused on long-term settings and has not considered people with dementia living at home and at different stages of the disease trajectory. Our aim is to review systematically the evidence concerning non-pharmacological strategies to minimise behavioural and psychological symptoms in community-dwelling older people with dementia.

Does integrated governance lead to integrated patient care? Findings from the innovation forum.

Good integration of services that aim to reduce avoidable acute hospital bed use by older people requires frontline staff to be aware of service options and access them in a timely manner. In three localities where closer inter-organisational integration was taking place, this research sought patients' perceptions of the care received across and within organisational boundaries. Between February and July 2008, qualitative methods were used to map the care journeys of 18 patients (six from each site).

Older people: how do they find out about their health? A pilot study.

Information about health is gained from various sources but little is known about the health information-seeking behaviours of older people and what factors affect this. This pilot study aimed to explore older people's experiences and views on their health information-seeking behaviours and to gain a better understanding of these. A qualitative study with nine older people was undertaken, using diaries and semi-structured interviews to gather data.

Integrated working between residential care homes and primary care: a survey of care homes in England.

Background: Older people living in care homes in England have complex health needs due to a range of medical conditions, mental health needs and frailty. Despite an increasing policy expectation that professionals should operate in an integrated way across organisational boundaries, there is a lack of understanding between care homes and the National Health Service (NHS) about how the two sectors should work together, meaning that residents can experience a poor "fit" between their needs, and services they can access. This paper describes a survey to establish the current extent of integrated working that exists between care homes and primary and community health and social services.

A systematic review of integrated working between care homes and health care services.

Background: In the UK there are almost three times as many beds in care homes as in National Health Service (NHS) hospitals. Care homes rely on primary health care for access to medical care and specialist services. Repeated policy documents and government reviews register concern about how health care works with independent providers, and the need to increase the equity, continuity and quality of medical care for care homes.

The role of health professionals in promoting the uptake of fall prevention interventions: a qualitative study of older people's views.

Background: uptake of and adherence to fall prevention interventions is often poor and we know little about older people's perceptions of and beliefs about fall prevention interventions and how these affect uptake.

Objective: to explore older people's perceptions of the facilitators and barriers to participation in fall prevention interventions in the UK.

Methods: we undertook a qualitative study with older people who had taken part in or declined to participate in fall prevention interventions using semi-structured interviews (n = 65), and 17 focus groups (n = 122) with older people (including 32 Asian and 30 Chinese older people).