FACTORS IN THE ELDERLY’S CHOICE OF A MEAL DELIVERY SERVICE: SECONDARY ANALYSIS OF SURVEY OF ATTITUDES AMONG THE ELDERLY TOWARD DAILY LIFE, 2014

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the factors involved in the choice of a meal delivery service by elderly people who assume they are no longer able to prepare their own meals.

Methods: Using data from the Survey of Attitudes among the Elderly toward Daily Life in Japan (2014), we analyze the elderly’s decision-making concerning their choice in meal delivery services by logistic regression. The analysis treats choosing meal delivery services as the objective variable, with perceptions of under-nutrition and health status, anxiety over disease, the inconvenience of grocery shopping, socioeconomic status, the ability to prepare meals, awareness of decreased ability due to aging, ability to easily ask for help, gender, age, and city size as explanatory variables.

Results: The study showed that the variables of sex (female), income, perception of under-nutrition, the inconvenience of grocery shopping, living alone, and anxiety over disease were predictive of the elderly’s decision to opt for meal delivery services. The elderly in small cities . compared to large ones . were less likely to choose the meal delivery service. Perceptions of one’s own health status, the ability to prepare meals, the awareness of one’s declining ability to prepare meals (due to aging), and the potential to ask neighbors for help had no impact in opting for meal delivery services.

Conclusion: The factors that lead elderly people who see themselves as no longer being able to prepare their own meals to choose a meal delivery service included sex (female), living alone, income (to afford the services), the perception of under-nutrition, the prediction of illness, and availability of groceries. In addition, it can be presumed that city size has an effect in choosing meal delivery services.