Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development

The barriers to living alone get bigger when older adults get older. One of them is being unable to fulfill their nutritional needs. Older adults who live alone must be able to fulfill nutritional needs, personal hygiene and health independently. This research was conducted to describe experience of older adults who live alone to fulfill their nutritional needs in Magetan, East Java. The methodology employed was a phenomenological qualitative design. We conducted in-depth interviews with seven older adults who live alone. The data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Six themes emerged as the strategy to get ingredient and food were cooked by self, bought from the seller, collected from farm; the barriers to fulfilling nutritional needs were getting old, disease and financial insufficiency. To fulfill the nutritional needs is a challenge for older adults, especially when they get sick. So, they need support from family, neighbors, and government to overcome the barrier. It is expected to be a consideration in policies regarding monitoring programs of the condition of older adults who live alone.