The proportion of older people in the population increases and more and more continueliving in their own homes. Appetite among the elderly people is important to theirnutrition and health. The increased risk of unintended weight loss and malnutrition islinked to food distribution among home-living elderly people. The aim was to describeexperiences and perceptions of what matters to appetite among home-living elderly peoplehaving food distribution. The design was qualitative where interview data were collectedamong 13 interviewees in 2017 to 2018. Data were analyzed using qualitative contentanalysis. The results are presented in three domains: the food, the meal situation, andthe adaptation to meal service with categories and themes responding to each domain. Thesix themes related to appetite among the elderly people concerned the following: eatingtasty, savory, and culturally adapted food; eating healthy and sustainable food; eatingalone or together with others; eating in a pleasant meal environment; having choices tomake about the meal; and last, accepting disabilities and increased dependency. Oneconclusion is that many aspects should be taken into consideration when promotingappetites of people who also get food distribution. It is highly individual and anunderstanding of which aspects are relevant must be considered; consequently,person-centered care is suggested to promote appetite.
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