Meeting Older Adults’ Food Needs: Interviews with Area Agency on Aging Staff, Food Bank Staff, and Older Adults

Patrick J. Brady, Natoshia M. Askelson, Helaina Thompson, Sarah Kersten, Haley Hopkins

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) and food banks provide nutritious food for in-need older adults. The objective of this study was to identify successes, challenges, and opportunities associated with meeting the food needs of older adults. We used semi-structured telephone interviews with AAA nutrition staff (n = 5), food bank program coordinators (n = 5) and executives (n = 6), and older adults (n = 60) in Iowa. AAAs and food banks identified providing healthy food and client satisfaction as successes and funding and staff/volunteer capacity as challenges. Before the pandemic, the relationships between these organizations were limited, but both saw opportunities for collaboration. Older adults described coordination between AAAs and food banks during the COVID-19 crisis. AAAs and food banks play an important role in meeting older adults’ food needs, but their effectiveness is limited by challenges related to funding and capacity. There is a need to identify feasible and sustainable strategies for collaboration past this crisis.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)235-255
Number of pages21
JournalJournal of Nutrition in Gerontology and Geriatrics
Volume41
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Keywords

  • Food assistance
  • food insecurity
  • older adults
  • qualitative research

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