Home meal delivery and neighborhood safety for older adults: Do community resources help older people in need feel more or less safe?

Background: Feeling safe in one’s neighborhood is important as those who feel safe are more likely to take walks, have social interactions, and use area services, leading to better health outcomes. This research assessed the relationship between meal delivery and feeling safe in one’s neighborhood. While meal delivery receipt could signal to older adults that they need help making them feel vulnerable it could also help adults feel safer knowing there are resources available.

Methods: The 2008 Health and Retirement Study data was analyzed to assess the association between meal delivery and feeling safe among older adults receiving public assistance after controlling for wealth. Wealth was controlled for instead of income as older adults of varying financial security may have little actual income. Neighborhood safety was measured as excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor. Linear, ordered logit, and generalized ordered logit models were used.

Results: Meal delivery was associated with feeling less safe after controlling for wealth. The generalized ordered logit model showed that meal recipients were more likely to feel unsafe with the greatest differences being that they were less likely to feel that their neighborhood safety was “excellent” or “very good” after controlling for differences in wealth, which likely removes much of the effect of richer or poorer neighborhoods (p<0.0001).

Conclusions: Knowing that older adults feel less safe when receiving meal deliveries has implications for research and program development. Further research should be done to better understand this and programs should work to remedy these concerns.