Abstract
Family meals provide a unique opportunity for families to eat well and engage positively with each other. In response to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, a new initiative to support health care staff to share healthy meals with their families was developed. At a hospital in Queensland, Australia, dietetic staff collaborated with the on-site food service retailer to develop and offer a range of hot meals that staff could take home for their families at the end of their day. The meals were nutritious, reasonably priced, and designed to feed a family of four. The dietetic staff worked with the hospital marketing department and staff health and wellness program to promote the initiative. Over the 3 months that it has been running, nearly 300 meals have been purchased. Anecdotal comments from the food service retailer highlighted that the initiative was a good thing to do for staff to maintain a positive reputation of the business. The staff evening meal initiative is a healthy, affordable, educational, and socially engaging alternative to takeaway meals and food delivery by app, and it is mutually beneficial for health care staff and the on-site food retailer. The initiative also offers a unique opportunity for promoting nutrition and social engagement during stressful times.
Description of Need
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic presents new challenges for many people in their day-to-day lives. While the general population are dealing with job losses or reductions and working from home with simultaneous school closures (Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2020), those employed in the hospital setting face unique stresses (Greenberg et al., 2020). Moreover, these challenges are likely to be experienced unequally between men and women given the gendered nature of the health care workforce, child care, and division of household chores.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on nutrition and eating behaviors remains unknown. Reports in the mainstream media suggest that across many countries people are cooking at home more often and eating healthier. Yet shortages of staple foods at supermarkets, closure of smaller retailers and farmers markets, and increased risk of infection with frequent shopping presented difficulties for some (Martin-Neuninger & Ruby, 2020). For health care workers, the increased stress and demands of their jobs will likely have affected on their families’ eating behaviors as unmanaged parental stress is associated with less healthful home food environment and fewer family meals (Fulkerson et al., 2019).
In this article, we highlight a new initiative launched by a health care organization in Queensland, Australia, to support staff to share healthy family meals during this time. We describe how the initiative was developed, how it was promoted to staff, early indicators of success, and plans for future refinement.
Development and Promotion of the Staff Family Meal Initiative
In Queensland, Australia, the COVID-19 pandemic presented a new and stressful situation for hospital-based health care staff. The pandemic also greatly affected the services affiliated with hospitals, such as on-site cafés and food retailers. In March 2020, the Queensland government placed restrictions on the food retail environments such that they were able to provide food and drinks as takeaway only. In addition, precautions on how people moved around the hospital and the limitations on visitors meant a reduction in foot traffic to the cafés. These restrictions resulted in major losses to the sales and revenue of these businesses.
Despite this, the primary food service retailer (Zouki Australia) at a health care organization (Mater Health) expressed an interest in supporting staff during this time. Dietetic staff collaborated with the food service retailer on a new initiative to develop and offer a range of hot meals that staff could take home for their families at the end of their day. The meals were nutritious, reasonably priced, and designed to feed a family of four. Meals typically included a lean protein, a variety of vegetables, and a carbohydrate, and vegetarian options were offered. For example, the roast pumpkin and couscous salad with kale, beetroot, and chickpeas could be ordered as a vegetarian meal or paired with spiced chicken kebabs. Each menu offered three to five different meals and was updated monthly.
The meals were priced competitively; this was possible because of numerous financial supports available to businesses during the pandemic. As the food service retailer was already preparing hot meals on-site, the evening meals were a natural extension of their core business. The food service retailer had the capacity, resources, and skill to deliver the new program efficiently.
The dietetic staff worked with the hospital marketing department and staff health and wellness program to promote the initiative. Staff were notified about the initiative through various emails, newsletters, and signage that advertised the meals along with a health promotion message. The health promotion messages included tips on general nutrition, the specific nutritional benefits of each meal, eating to boost immunity, and the health and well-being benefits of eating socially. An example poster is displayed in Figure 1.
Example of Poster Promoting Evening Meals
Early Indicators of Success
Early sales data suggest that the family meal initiative is popular and well-received among staff. In its first 3 months, the orders have grown steadily, and nearly 300 meals have been purchased. Anecdotal comments from the food service retailer have also been positive. The manager has noted that the family meals made sense for the business as they build off the service they already provide. The manager also noted that the initiative was a good thing to do for staff in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic to build goodwill and maintain a positive reputation with staff.
Plans for Future Refinement
At the time of this writing, the state of Queensland has very few active cases of COVID-19 and has rolled back many of the social distancing requirements for retail services. On May 15, 2020, restaurants could accommodate 10 dine-in patrons; this increased to 20 on June 1, 2020. By July 3, 2020, businesses could operate with the 4 square meter rule (meaning restaurants could have one diner per 4 square meter of dining area). However, the hospital food service retailer intends to continue with the staff family meal initiative, updating and expanding the menu each month. This facilitates ongoing interest and engagement by staff as well as creating and promoting a seasonal menu.
Opportunities for health promotion in support of this initiative are also numerous. In addition to providing nutrition tips in support of the menus, the program offers opportunities to promote other aspects of health and well-being. For example, conversation starters may be added to the meals so that staff are encouraged to have positive and engaging conversations with their families during the meal. Also, partially prepared meals are another extension to be utilized that could encourage staff to cook at home, to facilitate educational opportunities and family engagement in preparing meals.
Implications for Practice
In the era of food delivery apps and online food retailing, the staff evening meal initiative offers a healthy, affordable, educational, and socially engaging alternative. While this initiative has been trialed here in the health care setting, the program could be easily adapted to many different worksites. For those worksites with food service retailers already available, the application is straightforward. For those worksites that do not have on-site food service retail options, partnering with local cafés and restaurants and a dietitian may also be feasible. As the current program expands, more comprehensive research evaluations of the impact of the program on staff and their families will be warranted.
