Investigating culturally appropriate meals for inpatients at Eastern Health
The provision of culturally and religiously appropriate hospital food is important to meet the nutritional needs of patients, and for emotional, spiritual and mental health and well-being.
Ten Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) groups make up greater than 40% of Eastern Health's (EH) community profile, and availability of menu items reflecting cultural and religious needs of CALD patients was inconsistent and limited.
The objectives of this research were to:
- Review accessibility and suitability of multicultural meals to identified ethnic communities across six EH sites.
- Review acceptability and appropriateness of inpatient menus to older patients across EH.
- Determine unmet food service needs of culturally diverse inpatient groups at EH.
- Identify menu changes which are likely to enhance acceptability and appropriateness of inpatient meals across EH for all patients
