Assisted feeding, also called hand feeding or oral feeding, is the action of a person feeding another person who cannot otherwise feed themselves. The term is used in the context of some medical issue or in response to a

disability Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...

, such as when a person living with

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

is no longer able to manage eating alone. The person being fed must be able to eat by mouth, but lacks either the cognitive or physical ability to self-feed. Individuals who are born with a disability like cerebral palsy, or arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC) may be unable to feed themselves. Also, those who acquire a disability due to an accident or a disease like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) may require hand feeding because they may become unable to pick-up and bring food to their own mouth. Guidance about safely assisting people to eat can be found at th
Feeding the Disabled
website. Also there are devices available that many people who cannot feed themselves can use to give them control over their eating. Please refer to the Wikipedia topic “

Assistive eating devices Assistive eating devices include devices ranging from low-tech utensils to high-tech powered robotic eating equipment. Low tech eating devices include utensils, plates and bowls with lips that make scooping food easier. Cups and mugs, and even a st ...

” for information about these devices.

Assisted feeding as an alternative to tube feeding

A feeding tube is a medical device used to provide nutrition to patients who cannot obtain nutrition by mouth, are unable to swallow safely, or need nutritional supplementation. Patients who are able to use assisted feeding should have that in preference to tube feeding whenever possible. Oral assisted feedings are preferable to percutaneous feeding in individuals with advanced dementia.

Monetary costs

In the United States a study reviewed a set of patients and found that the expenses to arrange assisted feeding for patients was higher than the cost of using a feeding tube.

Assisted feeding as an alternative to tube feeding

Monetary costs

References

Further reading