Revista de Nutrição e Ciências Alimentares
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Abstrato

Evaluation of a Nutrition and Health Educational Online Computer Program for Older Adults

Stephen J. Pintauro, Sharmila Regimbald, Sara A. Burczy, Amy Nickerson, Paul R. Buzzell and Linda Berlin

Background: Many older adults are at increased risk for nutritional deficiencies and foodborne illnesses. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a user-friendly computer application that provides nutrition, food safety, and health information tailored to the needs of older adults. Methods: To determine the effectiveness of the program, a 12-month intervention study was conducted in which subjects were assigned to an experimental (HE-HA) group (access to the computer program) or a control (CON) group (no access to computer program). Computers were placed in each of two Vermont rural congregate meal sites. One site served as the HE-HA group site and the other as the CON site. Forty-one adults congregate meal users (HE-HA group: n=16; CON group: n=25) age ? 55, were recruited to participate in the study. The Nutrition Screening Initiative (NSI) checklist, food behavior checklist, and computer attitude surveys were completed by participants at baseline, 3, and 12 months. Focus groups were conducted between 8 and 9 months. Between and within group over time differences were statistically analyzed by Chi-square analyses and repeated measures ANOVA. Results and Conclusions: A significant positive impact of our program was noted on fruit and vegetable consumption (p < 0.005) and attitude regarding use of computers (p < 0.02). Focus group results indicated that all HE-HA participants claimed to have changed at least one aspect of his/her diet and that the Website contributed to this positive change. They also noted that the help of the “peer mentors” was a significant factor in their positive experience with using the Web application and with the use of computers in general. In this study, we demonstrated the successful use of a nutrition and health computer application in improving both nutrition behavior and computer skills and attitudes in older adults.