State Grantee Program Highlights
The MENU-AIDDs Program—University of Montana Rural Institute and Montana Disability and Health Program
The availability and consumption of nutritious food in group homes is important to the health of people with disabilities. To assess the food served in group homes, the University of Montana Rural Institute and Montana Disability and Health Program researched the food systems of group homes in Montana that serve adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities (I/DD).
MTDH researchers discovered that the cuisine fell significantly short of good nutrition. To help group homes serve healthier meals, researchers created Materials supporting Education and Nutrition of Adults with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities (MENU-AIDDs), a program that provides nutrition education and food systems support for group homes.
MENU-AIDDs is a system of environment-focused nutrition supports that includes menu planning tools, a practical recipe book, and nutrition education and reference materials. The components of MENU-AIDDs are offered to staff in an “a-la-carte” manner. That is, components that may be helpful can be used alone, allowing the systems and processes that are already working well for a group home to remain in place.
This nutritional program caters to the needs of the direct service staff and the group home residents. It is easy to use—inexperienced staff could walk in, create a well-balanced, acceptable meal from an approved menu, and serve it, all within an hour. Due to typically high staff turnover rates in I/DD group homes, MENU-AIDDs was designed to be simple to use and require little training at the direct care staffing level. MTDH Nutrition Programs Director, Kathy Humphries, PhD, said this about the MENU-AIDDs program:
We tried to make a system that addressed the many disparate needs identified by staff, consumers, and providers, and at the same time provided the flexibility to tailor the program to the different home cultures. MENU-AIDDs does not turn direct care staff into nutritionists. It provides a set of procedures and support tools that allow staff to achieve competence in these important tasks quickly, while maintaining stability for residents.
A 2004 pilot study evaluated the program by measuring its effects on menu quality, food costs, food systems changes, and on the secondary conditions of the group home residents. These secondary conditions included over- and under-weight and gastrointestinal health, both of which improved significantly. Not only did MENU-AIDDs help group home residents manage their weight, the residents were satisfied with their meals.
Group home managers and providers’ health care directors are being trained in rural Montana through teleconferences and in-person regional training events in partnership with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services’ Developmental Disabilities Program. After managers and health care practitioners have completed their training, the direct service staff then learns the MENU-AIDDs program as part of group home operations.
Implementation of MENU-AIDDs training and evaluation is in progress, and it will be introduced to other states shortly. To ensure that the dissemination and adoption of the program is successful, a support mechanism has been added: Nutritionists, dietitians, and other health care professionals will serve as consultants to the group homes. Future studies intend to develop a similar nutrition program to serve the needs of people with disabilities living in independent or semi-independent settings.
For information about MENU-AIDDs or if you would like to implement it in your group home, please contact Kathy Humphries at khumphries@ruralinstitute.umt.edu.
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