Bilan d’un projet pilote d’actions de sensibilisation du public aux risques de dénutrition et de fragilité de la personne âgée en région Limousin (2013–2014)

Malnutrition and frailty are frequent public health problems, in particular in the elderly people. The French Ministry for the Social Affairs and Health (MSAH) decided in 2012 to promote a pilot program including the realization of 10 conferences and three electronic or paper tools on this subject. It requested in this direction the French-speaking Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism Society (SFNEP), which chose for its application the nutrition network LINUT, established in area of Limousin, the 2nd oldest area of Europe.The program was validated by the MSAH and the SFNEP. The conferences had as a target the health professionals and the general public, and were announced with the media. They were evaluated by an index of satisfaction, a general knowledge before/after test and a questionnaire applied one or three months after the conferences. The tools were: the proposal to put on the websites of the institutions partners of the network a link with the site general public of the SFNEP, the creation of 12 simple, electronic and paper cards, treating various aspects of malnutrition in the elderly, the realization of one recipe book in mixed-texture of raw fruit and vegetables, including their nutritional composition and visual.Eleven conferences took place, involving 947 people (average: 86.1±55.4) on the whole of the area. The frequentation was stronger if the conferences were leaned with workshops or the regional day of the Liaison Committees for Alimentation and Nutrition (LCANs). The subjective appreciations and the before/after tests were favourable, whereas the remote questionnaire appeared unsuited. Only 19% of the requested institutions agreed to integrate the link with the site of the SFNEP. The electronic and paper cards were widely diffused. The book included 50 mixed-texture cooking recipes. The regional press published 16 articles on these actions, and a TF1 report was carried out at the time of a workshop. The allocated budget was consumed in accordance with the forecasts.A program of this type is applicable, and appears effective as for the number of people concerned with the conferences, the diffusion of the tools and the media impact.