All Theses, Dissertations, and Capstone Projects

Year of Award

2017

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College

College of Education & Allied Health

Department

Family and Consumer Sciences

First Advisor

Retha Meier

Second Advisor

Gaileen Hoenig

Third Advisor

Mildred Mattfeldt-Beman

Keywords

aging, elderly, health concerns, nutrition

Abstract

Older adults are the fastest growing sector of individuals in the United States (Bernstein & Munoz, 2016). While the overall health of this growing segment of the population varies widely, the growing strain on the healthcare system is already evident (Dall, et al., 2013). The healthcare system has to respond to the needs of this age group, to ensure a good quality of life (Augustine, Shah, Makadia, Shah, & Lee, 2014; Bernstein & Munoz, 2016; Duque, et al., 2013; Reicherter & Waller, 2014). With this population influx, the demand for specialized clinicians in the field of geriatrics will undoubtedly increase (Dall, et al., 2013).

Nutritional health is one part of the health equation that can negatively or positively affect an older adult’s quality of life (Bernstein & Munoz, 2016; Chernoff, 2014). The harmonious relationship between aging and nutrition is a unique one and an area that can be capitalized on by dietitians, the food and nutrition experts (Bernstein & Munoz, 2012; Rhea & Bettles, 2012).

This research focused on accredited nutrition and dietetics programs’ delivery of geriatric-focused content within the curricula. This study addressed the current nutrition and dietetic program standards for geriatric-focused content as it relates to the curricula. It also addressed the need for geriatric-focused dietitians to provide the distinct nutritional needs of the growing elderly population.

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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