Choosing Healthcare Options by Involving Canada's Elderly: a protocol for the CHOICE realist synthesis project on engaging older persons in healthcare decision-making.

Introduction: While patient and citizen engagement has been recognised as a crucial element in healthcare reform, limited attention has been paid to how best to engage seniors-the fastest growing segment of the population and the largest users of the healthcare system. To improve the healthcare services for this population, seniors and their families need to be engaged as active partners in healthcare decision-making, research and planning. This synthesis aims to understand the underlying context and mechanisms needed to achieve meaningful engagement of older adults in healthcare decision-making, research and planning.

Food tasting as nutrition education for older adults.

Purpose: The likelihood of experiencing poor nutrition status increases as people age. Sampling new foods may promote a continued interest in food and enjoyment of eating. This pilot study was designed to describe and provide a preliminary evaluation of food-tasting activities integrated into nutrition displays directed at community-living older adults.

Food workshops, nutrition education, and older adults: a process evaluation.

Three years of process evaluation data are presented for Evergreen ActionNutrition food workshops conducted at an older adults' recreation center. Over a three-year period, 475 written evaluations of single and three-session series workshops were completed. Additionally, data were collected from four focus groups of older adult participants (n = 19).

Men can cook! Development, implementation, and evaluation of a senior men's cooking group.

This study reports on the process and outcome evaluation of a community-based nutrition and cooking education program for senior men. As part of Evergreen Action Nutrition, a community-organized, nutrition education program, a registered dietitian led a Men's Cooking Group in a seniors' recreation facility. Written questionnaires were completed by most of the men (n = 19) at the beginning and end of the evaluation year, and ten men participated in personal key informant interviews.

Nutritional risk needs assessment of community-living seniors: prevalence of nutrition problems and priorities for action.

A random mailed survey was sent to 425 members of a seniors recreation center in Guelph, Ontario for the purpose of identifying the prevalence of nutritional risk, specific nutrition problems, and educational format preferences of these seniors. This needs assessment was used to plan an education initiative called "Action Nutrition." SCREEN, a 15-item nutritional risk screening instrument, demographic data, participation in current recreation programs, and frequency of visits to the center were included in this survey.

The Development of Seniors in the Community: Risk Evaluation for Eating and Nutrition (SCREEN).

Measuring the nutritional risk of seniors living in the community has become increasingly necessary as more seniors in vulnerable states remain in their own homes. A few assessment tools are available for use in this population. To determine whether a tool is appropriate for a specific purpose, we must understand how it was developed.