Meals on Wheels for Seniors with Dementia: Delayed Nursing Home Placement

Many people who receive home-delivered meals have a dementia diagnosis (13% as of 2023¹). That’s why Meals on Wheels America partnered with Brown University School of Public Health and researcher Kali Thomas, PhD, MA, on a study featuring three Meals on Wheels providers — Neighborly Senior Care Network in Clearwater, FL, the Visiting Nurse Association in Dallas, TX, and Meals on Wheels San Antonio in San Antonio, TX. The primary objective of this study was to assess the association between daily-delivered vs. drop-shipped frozen meals and nursing home admission among homebound adults with dementia. 

The pilot study tested whether the type of meal delivery (frozen vs. daily-delivered meals) delays the time to nursing home placement for adults with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). People with ADRD who were on the waiting lists at the three Meals on Wheels providers were randomly assigned to receive either 1) meals that are delivered multiple times per week by a Meals on Wheels volunteer or paid driver and include socialization and a wellness check or 2) frozen meals that are mailed to participants’ homes every two weeks. The study measured time to nursing home placement within six months.  

Key Findings

In this pilot study, older adults with dementia who received daily-delivered meals had a lower risk for nursing home placement at six months than those receiving frozen drop-shipped meals.

Although the study was not powered to detect changes with statistical significance, these promising results suggest that further exploration in an adequately powered clinical trial is possible and warranted.

This information is important as health systems, health care professionals, medical institutions and health plans are increasingly providing meals to patients, a large and growing number of whom are living with dementia.

External Publications

Home-Delivered Meals and Nursing Home Placement Among People With Self-Reported Dementia: A Pilot Pragmatic Clinical Trial, Thomas, K.S., Bunker, J., Gadbois, E., et al.,JAMA Network Open, 2023.

Home-delivered meals for people with dementia: Which model delays nursing home placement? – Protocol for a feasibility pilot, Thomas, K.S., Dosa, D.M., Fisher, A., Gadbois, E., Harrison, J., Hilgeman, M., Largent, E.A., Lima, J., McAuliff, K., McCreedy, E., Mills, W., Ornstein, K.A., Shield, R.R., Barron, M., Callaghan, S., Clark, K., Culak, C., Faris, V., Frankhauser, A.E., Huerta, S., Krause, K., Martinez, I., Mayer, A., Rodriguez, J., Theilheimer, L., Truelove, W., Wilson, I., & Gutman, R., Contemporary Clinical Trials, 2022.