Dietetic students' experiences providing meal assistance in long-term care facilities.

Purpose: This qualitative study involved describing the experiences of dietetic students who provided meal help to older adults. Of interest were benefits and challenges, and how training could be enhanced.

Methods: Individual, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine undergraduate dietetic students. In the preceding year, these students had volunteered as meal helpers in a long-term care home. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to analyze the transcripts.

Results: All participating students were female and from one undergraduate program. Three main themes emerged: growing into the role, learning outside the classroom, and providing quality assistance.

Conclusions: This study provides an understanding of how meal helping can be a valuable experience for emerging dietitians. It also gives insights into training and the development of the meal helper role.