Nutrition Care Process in Mexican Older Adults (NCP)

Efficacy of the Application of the Nutrition Care Process on the Eating Habits of Older Adults in the State of Colima During 12 Months of Follow-up: a Randomized, Single-blind Clinical Trial.

The aim of this clinical trial is to determine the efficacy at 12 months of the application of the nutrition care process in the eating habits of older adults in the state of Colima, Mexico compared to a conventional nutritional intervention. The main questions it aims to answer is: what is the efficacy of the application of the nutrition care process vs. a conventional nutritional intervention on the eating habits of older adults in the state of Colima, Mexico after 12 months of follow-up?

Participants will be two study groups. Group 1 will apply the nutritional care process and Group 2 will use standard care. The Structured Survey of Food Quality of the older adult will be applied to classify eating habits as good and bad; as well as the reduction of malnutrition in the study participants, in addition, the 24-hour reminder and the food consumption frequency questionnaire will be evaluated before and after the nutritional intervention, an eating plan will be determined according to the needs and later, follow-up will be given for 8 weeks, finally monitoring will be done at 3, 6 and 12 months in order to detect changes in eating habits. The financial resources will be financed by resources own in the Social Coexistence Center for the older adults in the metropolitan area of Colima, Mexico. Group experience: there are health professionals specialized in patient care. The protocol has the approval of a local research ethics committee (CEICANCL220223-NUTRICIA-02).

There will be two groups in which one group will be given a conventional intervention, a second group will use the nutrition care process (NCP). A nutritional clinical history will be applied to each of the older adults to know general data, body composition, biochemical and clinical parameters, nutritional evaluation (considered step 1 of the NCP), then a nutritional diagnosis will be given (step 2) , to give a dietary prescription, objectives, action plan, intervention and nutritional education to the patient for a period of 8 weeks (step 3) to monitor adherence to the nutritional prescription, which will be monitored at 3 , 6 and 12 months (step 4).

Each participant belonging to this institution has the same probability of being selected for the study. On this occasion, a numbered list of the subjects candidates to participate in the study will be needed. Subsequently, by means of a raffle with balls numbered from 1 to 2, the subjects will be assigned to each of the interventions, number 1 corresponds to the intervention with the nutrition care process and number 2 to the conventional nutritional intervention.

According to the randomization and simple blinding, there will be 2 study groups in which group 1 will be operated on Nutrition care process and group 2 with Conventional nutritional intervention. The Nutrition Care Process is a standardized model intended to guide RDNs in providing high quality nutrition care. The NCP consists of four distinct, interrelated steps: Nutrition Assessment, Diagnosis, Intervention, and Monitoring/Evaluation (AND, 2023). In the case of Conventional nutritional intervention, we will base ourselves on the application of a habitual nutritional clinical history, where information will be obtained on the reasons for consultation and the specific needs of the patient to carry out an intervention based on their priorities.

Application of the Quality of life perception (World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire)

Inclusion Criteria: Older adults ≥ 60 years old female or male who voluntarily agree to participate in the study. Exclusion Criteria: People who have a specific treatment determined by another health professional people with chronic kidney disease and hemodialysis or dialysis treatment. adherence less than 80% in the nutritional intervention incomplete data collection, participants who decide to leave the project people who are hospitalized or die.