An investigation into factors that affect the decision of parents to use blended diets with their gastrostomy-fed children

Children who are unable to swallow safely, have gastric problems or neurological difficulties may require tube feeding via a gastrostomy to meet their nutritional requirements. Usually commercial formula feeds are used however, more families are opting to use blended diets (BD), which may consist of everyday family meals or other foods blended to a smooth consistency and then passed down the feeding tube. The overall impact of BD is not fully understood and there are varying views amongst professionals involved in the care of those using them. The aim of this research is to identify the reasons for and implications of using BD, and establish whether there are any differences between parents who do and do not use BD, and the outcomes for children and young people who do and do not use BD. A mixed methodology is used in the research, with three phases, the first two being qualitative using thematic analysis with data collected from in-depth interviews and blog posts. The information from phases one and two informed the content of the survey used in phase three. The third phase of the research is the quantitative phase. A survey was distributed to families who were and were not using BD. This enabled the researcher to gauge the prevalence of the viewpoints/ themes from the interviews, and to compare views and characteristics of those who were and were not using BD. The qualitative phase revealed a mismatch between the priorities and perceptions of families and clinicians, which was also identified in the literature. The quantitative phase indicates that parents who opt to use BD have a significantly higher level of concerns about commercial formula and see less need for it. Both phases provided anecdotal evidence suggesting BD have physiological benefits to the children and young people using them. These data are parent-reported, and larger scale studies, with more objective outcome measures are now required.