# Mealtime Partnerships for People with Dementia in Respite Centers and at Home

> **NIH NIH R01** · MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA · 2020 · $411,481

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT 
The goal of this study is to test the efficacy of a mealtime intervention (Partners at Meals) in respite care 
centers (RCCs) that provide a social model of care for people with dementia living in the community and 
support for their caregivers. Largely staffed by long-time volunteers, these centers support caregivers’ ability to 
maintain their loved one in the home. Outcomes include improvements in: a) quality of life (QOL) and 
nutritional outcomes for people with dementia (PWD) and QOL outcomes for family caregivers (CGs); b) self-
efficacy training outcomes for assessing and managing meals for the CGs and the RCC volunteers; and c) 
sustainability outcomes as determined by directors of the RCCs. Two large RCCs with a total of 5 sites of care 
in suburban and rural areas of SC will be the sites of this project; and 60 PWDs and 60 CGs will be recruited 
for this cluster-randomized trial, as well as potentially 60 staff and volunteers. Caregiving for PWDs is 
increasingly occurring in the community by persons who are often not prepared to assume this responsibility. 
Fortunately, RCCs evolved as a vital community-based resource that provide socialization, meaningful 
activities, respite for caregivers and at least one meal daily. Mealtime is a particular problem for PWDs 
because as this life-limiting disease progresses, they lose the functional ability to manage meals and display a 
variety of challenging behaviors all of which will eventually affect their ability to consume adequate 
calories and continue the social aspects of meals that connect them to others. A HIPAA-compliant 
telehealth system using simple ‘tablets’ will allow CGs to capture behaviors and environmental aspects of 
meals in the home at the time behaviors occur so that plans of care can be tailored to PWD needs. Using a 
train-the-trainer model, volunteers will be taught to assess the environment (Place), the interactions between 
the PWD and others (People), and the actions of the PWD (Person). They will then train the CGs to make 
those observations so they can tailor and change mealtimes in the home – the telehealth component 
supports this. Thus this project could be used in the community as a model for behavior modification for other 
dysfunctional behaviors in the home. This study proposes to examine the following aims: (Primary) Compared 
to participants in ‘enhanced usual care’ sites, PWD participants in the intervention sites will demonstrate 
improvement in nutritional status and dysfunctional behaviors, and QOL; (Secondary) a) CGs will report 
improve QOL and self-efficacy for managing meals, and decreased depression and burden; c) RCC volunteers 
will report improved self-efficacy for training and management of feeding issues; and d) Directors will report 
satisfaction with the program and willingness to continue the program post-funding. Additionally, 
hospitalizations and discharges related to nutrition-related issues among PWDs will ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9949791
- **Project number:** 5R01NR016466-04
- **Recipient organization:** MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
- **Principal Investigator:** Teresa J Kelechi
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $411,481
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9949791

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9949791, Mealtime Partnerships for People with Dementia in Respite Centers and at Home (5R01NR016466-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9949791. Licensed CC0.

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