Critical review of French training courses on nutrition for professionals in gerontology

In a plea to improve the nutritional status of older people, Dorothee Volkert (2013) insisted on the need to train healthcare professionals. In line with these recommendations, our objective was to identify and analyze the training courses offered in France on older people's diet for both "cure" providers, in charge of seniors' health (physician, nurse, dietician...), and "care" providers, in charge of assisting seniors in their daily activities (caregiver, cook, manager of nursing homes...). Fifty-eight courses were identified. These were mainly short courses (62% lasted 2 days or less) provided as part of continuing education (76%). Most of the training courses present the nutritional needs of the older people and/or the undernutrition issue, thus constituting an important lever for raising the awareness of professionals on these important topics. However, the semantic analysis of programs raised proposals to enhance the training offer: increasing targeting of professionals working with older people living at home, taking greater account of the heterogeneity in the aged population and being more focused on the sensory and psychosocial aspects of meals and not only on nutritional aspects. (C) 2022 Societe francaise de nutrition. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.