Oct 02, 2025
A scoping review of the impact of community-based food models on health, wellbeing and social connectedness of older people.
- Sophia Amenyah1,
- Alison Benzimra2,
- Jane murphy1,
- Katie Powell1,
- Camila Devis-Rosental1,
- Lee-Ann Fenge1
- 1Bournemouth University;
- 2United St Saviour's Charity
External link: https://doi.org/10.1155/hsc/6677936
Protocol Citation: Sophia Amenyah, Alison Benzimra, Jane murphy, Katie Powell, Camila Devis-Rosental, Lee-Ann Fenge 2025. A scoping review of the impact of community-based food models on health, wellbeing and social connectedness of older people.. protocols.io https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.5jyl82o46l2w/v1
Manuscript citation:
Jeff P, Benzimra A, Murphy JL, Fenge L, Devis-Rozental C, Amenyah SD (2025) Impact of Community-Based Food Interventions on Health, Well-being, and Social Connectedness of Older Adults: A Scoping Review. Health & social care in the community 2025(1). doi: 10.1155/hsc/6677936
License: This is an open access protocol distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Protocol status: Working
We use this protocol and it's working
Created: September 16, 2024
Last Modified: October 02, 2025
Protocol Integer ID: 107676
Keywords: Community-based, food, older people, health, wellbeing, nutrition, social connectedness, Scoping review, social connectedness of older people, food models on health, health status in older age, social activities for older people, food models with multigenerational component, older people from low income, health expectancy, life expectancy, impact on the health, food model, health status, prisma extension for scoping review, major determinants of successful ageing, food activity, successful ageing, based food model, good nutrition, aim of this scoping review, older age, scoping review, social activity, community, social isolation, lunch club, age
Funders Acknowledgements:
Dunhill Medical Trust
Grant ID: SLEF2110\4
Abstract
Background: Life expectancy has increased globally, and, in the UK, however considerable disparities exist in health expectancy particularly for older people from low income and socially deprived backgrounds. While multiple factors contribute to health status in older age, good nutrition and being active socially and physically, remain major determinants of successful ageing. Community-based food models with multigenerational components have been proposed to reduce social isolation and loneliness and have shown potential to enhance health, wellbeing and social connectedness of older people.
Objective: The aim of this scoping review is to synthesise the evidence on the impact of community-based food models on health, wellbeing and social connectedness of older people.
Methods: This scoping review will be conducted according to the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). Systematic literature searches will be conducted in including CINAHL complete, MEDLINE complete, Cochrane Library, PsycInfo and SocINDEX using both key word searches and medical subject headings and Scopus with key terms. Searches will include terms related to older people, communities, community-based activities, food-models, food activities, gardening, cooking classes, lunch clubs and social activities for older people. Studies will be included if they are primary intervention studies using both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, observational studies without an intervention will be excluded.
Results: A narrative review will be produced from the included studies and data synthesis will highlight the interventions strategies that have been successful or unsuccessful and their impact on the health, wellbeing and social connectedness of older people.
Conclusion: The findings from this scoping review will identify gaps in the literature and provide novel insights into the development of community-based food models that positively impacts the health, wellbeing and social connectedness of older people.
Troubleshooting
Objectives and review questions
The aims of this scoping review is to scope the evidence and impact of community-based
food models on health, wellbeing and social connectedness of older people.
Review questions
1. What types of community-based food models have been implemented to promote health, wellbeing
and social connectedness/engagement in older people?
2. Which strategies in these community-based food models have been successful or ineffective and why?
3. What are the factors that have contributed to the success or failure of these community-based food models for older people?
Search strategy
- Literature searchers will be conducted in the following electronic databases: CINAHL complete, MEDLINE complete, Cochrane Library, PsycInfo and SocINDEX.
- Searches in Cochrane library, CINAHL complete, Medline, PsycInfo and SocINDEX will be conducted using both medical subject headings and keywords and searches in Scopus will be conducted using keywords.
- In addition to searches of academic literature searches, grey literature searches will be conducted on Google and other databases including OpenDOAR,, National Grey Literature Collection, PsycEXTRA (APA), the Social Science Research Network and OpenAIRE. This will enable us to return literature that have not been published in scientific literature but may be relevant to answering the research questions.
- The searches will include terminologies related to older people, communities, community-based activities, food-models, food activities, gardening, cooking classes, lunch clubs and social activities for older people.
- Searches will cover all studies published to date and will be restricted to publications in English. The searches will be re-run prior to the final analysis and any further studies retrieved will be included.
- The list of references for the included studies will additionally be searched for potential references.
Condition or domain being studied
Health, wellbeing and social connectedness
Participants/ Population
Inclusion criteria
- Studies including older people 60 years old and above
- Studies including community-dwelling adults
- Community-based/group intervention
Exclusion criteria
- Studies targeted at older people with specific health conditions will be excluded.
- Studies conducted in older people living in institutions or care homes.
- In-vitro or non-human studies
Interventions (s), exposure (s)
- Community-based interventions targeted at older people focused on food-based activities food growing and gardening activities, food preparation and cooking activities, meal sharing or lunch clubs, enjoying and choosing a healthy diet, food-related craft activities and social activities involving food.
- Interventions to be excluded include interventions involving pharmaceutical or surgical interventions.
Comparator(s)/control:
Comparison will be intervention compared to control.
Types of study to be included:
- Studies will be included if they are randomised controlled trials, intervention studies without randomisation, quasi-experimental studies and pre-post studies using both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods.
- Observational studies without an intervention will be excluded
Main outcomes
Primary outcomes
- Improvement in health and wellbeing matrices, quality of life measures and social engagement and activities
Secondary outcomes
- Dietary intake and quality, physical activity
Measures of effect
Quantitative effect measures will include increase in dietary quality, health and wellbeing metrics, physical activity, quality of life and social engagement. Data on average increases (average and p-values) will be extracted.
Additional outcome(s):
None
Data Extraction and Synthesis
- The titles and abstracts of studies retrieved using the search strategy will be screened independently by two reviewers to identify studies that meet the inclusion criteria as well as relevance and rigour to the aims of the review. Identification of relevant studies will be based on the eligibility criteria.
- The full-text articles identified as potentially meeting inclusion criteria will be retrieved and will be reviewed using pre-designed in/out forms to assess the eligibility of the studies for the review. This step will be conducted independently by two reviewers and the results will be compared and discussed. Disagreements over the eligibility of studies will be resolved by a third reviewer if necessary.
- The data from the studies meeting the inclusion criteria will be extracted into a pre-designed database.
- The following data will be extracted: author, country, target group, study design, sample size, description of intervention, length, location, outcomes related to health and wellbeing, dietary quality or intake, physical activity, quality of life and social engagement.
- Information on the effectiveness of the interventions and facilitators and barriers for the implementation of the interventions will also be extracted.
- Data extraction will be done independently by the two reviewers and the results will be compared and discussed before final inclusion in the review. Any disagreements will be resolved by a third reviewer if necessary.
- Authors will be contacted if additional details are needed.
Quality assessment
Quality assessment of included studies will be carried out using the CONSORT checklist for RCTs and the STROBE checklist for observational studies. This will examine quality indicators such as informed
consent, study methodology, method of analysis, source of funding and potential risk of bias.
Strategy for data synthesis
A narrative review will be produced with a summary of information from the included studies. The data synthesis will highlight intervention strategies that have been successful or unsuccessful and factors that underlie successful interventions.
Analysis of subgroups or subsets:
No subgroup analyses have been planned.
Type and method of review:
Scoping review