Food Security for older people in rural and regional Australia

Recent research has identified a significant prevalence of malnutrition amongst community-dwelling older Australians. Food insecurity and inadequate nutrition contribute to reduced quality of life and a range of adverse health consequences for older people. An in-depth understanding of the etiology and experience of food insecurity is warranted in order to develop and implement effective policies and service interventions to address food insecurity in this growing sub-group of the population. Although food insecurity in older adults is considered to be worthy of closer attention by researchers, few in-depth qualitative studies have been conducted in Australia. More importantly, current framewords and tools to assess food insecurity in Australia and elsewhere tend to focus on economic, geographic and nutritional factors that can be quantified. These approaches oftend do not consider important social and place-based issues that influence the role and experience of food and eating in older people's lives.