Evaluation of an App Based Questionnaire for the Nutritional Assessment in Elderly Housing

An adequate nutritional status is a major determinant of health in the elderly population. Malnutrition or risk of malnutrition are situations linked to an increase of complications, which often affects people over 60 years old. The Mini Nutritional Assessment questionnaire allows to obtain in a fast, easy and non-invasive way information related to the nutritional status. However, the solely act of assessment does not lead to an improvement in the nutritional status. In this paper we describe the implementation and evaluation of an Android based app containing the Mini Nutritional Assessment questionnaire and a set of recommended nutritional interventions based on the questionnaire score. The app was evaluated in a single-cohort study involving 154 subjects during a a period of 6 months in a nursing home. Our results confirm the effectiveness of the screening and intervention program based on the use of the app, as per an improvement in the nutritional status of subjects who where primarily malnourished or at risk of malnutrition. The usability, perceived usefulness and perceived savings of the app was evaluated by means of an adapted System Usability Score questionnaire on ten professionals participating in the study, showing high levels of acceptance and potential savings.