(P12-011-24) Implementation of Practical Educational Sessions to Improve Dietary Practices in People Over 55 Years in France

Objectives: The program called ALISA targets people over 55y. It aims to increase the practical food knowledge and raise awareness of healthy, sustainable and accessible diets, through daily incremental improvements. The program also aims to expand autonomy within the target population and reduce the risk of malnutrition by creating a community of support among participants.

Methods: The program was developed thanks to six discussion groups with volunteers. It consists of four practical sessions on healthy, sustainable and accessible diet based on education tools focusing on social links. Training on methodologies and implementation of the sessions is provided to community facilitators from local social action centres, empowering them to administer the program to the public. To date the program has been deployed in five cities in France with 66 older subjects in 2023. To assess the impact of the program, subjects completed pre- and post- sessions knowledge and food frequency questionnaires. Results were collected using Qualtrics and analyzed (Student t test).

Results: The average knowledge scores were significantly different before and after the sessions (p-value 0,003), showing a positive impact on knowledge on food practices. The number of correct answers significantly increased for questions on the fat content of oils (p-value 0,027) or on information about food expiration dates (p-value 0,0004). Verbatim collected with participants showed a general satisfaction and willingness to pay more attention to food purchase and consumption. The seasonal calendar of fruit and vegetable was often cited as a useful tool and several participants declared having it displayed in their kitchen. The proposed recipes were new to most participants and being inspiring.

Conclusions: Participants exhibited notable knowledge gaps in areas such as food expiration terminology and seasonal product availability, with certain concepts, including dairy product recommendations and food benefits, being moderately understood. After their engagement in the program, there was an observable enhancement in overall comprehension levels. Next steps are on-going to enrich the recipe book with new ones favoring inter-generational meals and to further implement the program in new cities.

Funding Sources: The project is funded by the non-profit Institute for a Positive Food.