Tackling malnutrition in older people living at home in Scotland

Boost Box

 

Boost Box is an innovative snack box project in collaboration with Hanover Scotland. The project was developed to help with identifying older people living in sheltered accommodation who may be at risk of malnutrition. Using the Patients Association Nutrition Checklist, those identified at risk were given a weekly Boost Box full of nutritious snacks to help boost calorie and protein intake alongside their regular meals.

The idea was to focus on the benefits of having 1 to 2 snacks per day, especially if the older person was struggling with a poor appetite.

In addition to receiving the Boost Box, residents also had weekly visits from a trained Eat Well Age Well volunteer who would check in with their well-being and provide any additional information needed on healthy eating or Food First advice.

 

 

Read our report on the Boost Box Project here.

During the Covid-19 pandemic the Boost Box became a key project to help organisations support older people with food access. Read more here.

 

Sample Snacks from the Boost Box

 

 

 

View more of our Tests of Change projects.

Read the Boost Box project brief.