On the 28th of April, the pilot testing of the GYMSEN project started in Prague. The whole piloting course is going to last 10 weeks; it is divided into 10 sessions, a session per week is planned and each one is going to last 60 minutes.
In the Czech Republic, the target group involved into the piloting testing includes 10 healthy seniors. During the first session, this group was introduced to the GYMSEN project, moment in which they got informed about the programme of the course and the main activities they will have to perform. During the second part of this first session, the group realized two questionnaires: one about Mini Nutritional Assessment and one about their sensory perception of food. The most interesting part of the first session was the practical excercises where the ability to recognize odour intensity and identity was tested.
The following sessions are consisting of basic and complex exercises with tomatoes, apples and other spices or herbs, in which seniors will have to smell and taste ingredients and to recognise differences between them. They will also have to prepare recipes and to play to some memory games with herbs and spices. In the penultimate session, the group is going to attend to a documentary about international food, healthy food and new food and participants will have the opportunity to discuss about it. During the very last session, some evaluation and satisfaction questionnaires are going to be leaded and the practical test is going to be run once again in order to be able to make the comparison.
The very aim of this project is to create a training programme for seniors in order to improve their sensory capacities. For more information about the project you can click here.
For the GYMSEN project, EUDA can count on the collaboration of Právě teď o.p.s., an NGO based in Prague with the mission to change the public perception about seniors and to change the seniors’ perception of themselves. The organisation has been established in 2013. At the moment, Právě teď is looking for projects to join. For more information about this organisation, you can click here.
