Effectiveness of Dementia Nutrition Education

Nutritional problems can and do manifest themselves at various stages and with varying degrees of severity. Patients with dementia are at significant risk for weight loss and malnutrition due to the numerous issues that arise during the disease process. Caregivers of patients with dementia face significant challenges in providing nutritional care for their patients due to difficulties with nutrition for physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral reasons. The following methods were used: This study employed a randomized controlled trial with a pretest-posttest design. The study was conducted with 89 patients and caregivers (45 in the intervention group and 44 in the control group). We collected data from the intervention and control groups before and after the intervention using the Descriptive Information Form, Edinburgh Nutrition Evaluation in Dementia (EdFED) Scale, Mini Nutritional Assessment, Dysphagia Assessment Scale in Multiple Sclerosis, and Sarcopenia Screening Test (SARC-F). The intervention group received a standardized educational program for three months. We evaluated the data using percentages, arithmetic means, standard deviations, medians, and interquartile ranges. We analyzed the data using chi-square tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, and intention-to-treat analyses.