Nutritionally savvy: Helping older adults maintain health with tech

Now an assistant professor of nutrition and dietetics at the Rowan-Virtua Rita & Larry Salva School of Nursing & Health Professions, LoBuono’s research aims to help older adults—who might experience declining muscle mass and slowing digestion, along with issues like a fixed income and difficulty getting to the grocery store—maintain their nutritional wellness.

Her latest effort is GoldenBytes, a free, undergraduate-run program for adults 60 and older at the Elmer Library and the Millville Public Library. Funded by the New Jersey Health Foundation, the program’s goal is to improve nutrition literacy by teaching older adults to use tech tools to manage their health. The program has covered topics including how to sign up for food assistance, how to order grocery deliveries with Instacart, how to access a patient portal, and how to find accurate health information online.

The older adults appreciate learning from college students in a “reverse mentoring” dynamic, LoBuono says. And the student instructors, who take implicit bias assessments as part of a secondary research question about student attitudes toward aging, are developing lesson plans and handouts. “Without all of our students being so responsible and patient,” LoBuono says, “the project wouldn’t be the same.”

LoBuono recognizes the community's need for such programs. “We had way more interest than I thought we would get, which is awesome,” she says. “It doesn’t surprise me to see so many motivated older adults that want to learn and stay relevant. People want to age in place and want to stay independent.”