Issues and Directions in Developing Nutrition Education for Older Adults in Korea

This paper presents the status of nutrition education for older adults in Korea, and examines considerations in developing effective nutrition education programs for the elderly based on literature reviews. Finally, strategies of nutrition education for older adults in Korea are examined. Status of nutrition education were examined by surveying 90 senior centers, and 46 public health centers providing nutrition services. Most senior centers(96%) provided health education programs, however, nutrition was only a part of health programs. Among the 41 public health centers which responded to the survey, 73.1% provided nutrition education for older adults. The frequently covered topics were prevention & management of hypertension/stroke, diabetes, nutritional management during later adulthood, and osteoporosis. Common barriers in planning and implementing elderly education were; lack of educational materials for older adults, reliance on lectures, difficulty in following-up. To develop effective nutrition education, four stages consisting of needs assessment, planning and implementation of programs, and evaluation should be carefully done. Needs assessment might be done using quantitative or qualitative assessment. Factors influencing nutrition behavior of older adults can be systematically examined using a theoretical approach such as the PRECEDE-PROCEED framework. Qualitative methods, such as focus group interviews, also provide insightful information regarding the needs of older adults. In planning nutrition education programs, physical and pshychological changes associated with aging should be considered. Literature regarding elderly education suggest that active participation or participatory learning is also effective for older adults. Educational materials are developed following the principle of KISS and pre-tested. Program evaluation has been rarely done in practice, although it provides valuable feedback to the program. Strategies for developing nutrition education for Korean elderly include; performing needs assessment, developing a standard program by topics in a logical and systematic way, developing programs for subgroups of elderly, applying diverse education methods developing educational materials for the elderly, evaluating programs using simple tools, and delivering a nutrition program as a part of health promotion program. Finally, the interaction and communication between researchers and practitioners is strongly recommended to ensure better nutrition education and services to the elderly.