More Than a Meal® Pilot Research Study

Links & Downloads

In light of a rapidly aging population, increasing costs and funding that is not keeping pace, community-based organizations like Meals on Wheels face unprecedented challenges to meet the growing demand and need for meal and nutrition services, particularly among homebound seniors. As a result, decision-makers at all levels of government and community-based organizations within the Aging Network are increasingly seeking lower-cost solutions to stretch constrained budgets. One such method is drop-shipping frozen meals with limited to no personal contact in lieu of the traditional Meals on Wheels delivery model of daily in-home visits, nutritious meals and safety checks.

As part of the More Than a Meal® research project, Meals on Wheels America set out to compare the experience and health outcomes realized by older adults who were randomly assigned to receive three different levels of service: daily traditional meal delivery, once-weekly frozen delivery and individuals on a waiting list.

Key Findings

Those receiving and/or requesting Meals on Wheels services have greater health needs than a nationally representative sample of aging Americans. Seniors on Meals on Wheels waiting lists were significantly more likely to:

Report poorer self-rated health
Screen positive for depression and mental health challenges (e.g., anxiety)
Report recent falls and fear of falling that limited their ability to stay active
Require assistance with shopping or preparing food
Have health and/or safety hazards both inside and outside the home

Those who received daily-delivered meals experienced greater improvements in health and quality of life indicators over the 15-week study period then the other two groups (individuals who received frozen, weekly-delivered meals and the control group). Between baseline and follow-up, respondents receiving daily-delivered meals were more likely to exhibit:

Improvement in mental health (e.g., anxiety)
Improvement in self-rated health
Reductions in the rate of falls
Improvement in feelings of isolation and loneliness
Decreases in worry about being able to remain in their home

Those receiving daily-delivered meals reported greater benefits from their home-delivered meal experience than the group receiving frozen meals.

Participants receiving daily-delivered meals were more likely to attribute their meals to making them feel safer and report that their meals helped them to eat healthier foods than the group receiving frozen meals.
In addition, those receiving daily-delivered meals were more likely to note that their meals resulted in more social contact and less loneliness than the group receiving frozen meals.

Those who lived alone and received daily-delivered meals were more likely to report decreases in worry about being able to remain in their home and improvements in feelings of isolation and loneliness over the study period than the other two groups (individuals living alone who either received frozen, weekly-delivered meals or were in the control group).

Although lower-cost options may be available to states, caregivers and Aging Network service providers, the findings of the More Than a Meal® pilot study demonstrate the superior strengths and long-term benefits of daily, home-delivered meals and social contact for homebound older adults. By lessening feelings of isolation and loneliness and reducing the rate of falls, our findings, in combination with previous research, suggest the traditional Meals on Wheels service delivery model has the greatest potential to decrease health care costs. While alternative service models such as weekly frozen meal delivery may be less costly on the front end, this study suggests that sacrifices related to health and quality of life must be considered.

Download Full Report

In reproducing any excerpts of this report, please provide a credit that recognizes Meals on Wheels America, such as: Meals on Wheels America. (2015). More Than a Meal® Pilot Research Study: Results from a Pilot Randomized Control Trial of Home-Delivered Meal Programs. https://member.mealsonwheelsamerica.org/research/more-than-a-meal-pilot-research-study