A Snapshot of the Experience of Dietitians during the COVID-19 Crisis in Five Arab Countries: Findings from a Regional Cross-Sectional Study

Bookari, Khlood; Arrish, Jamila; Zaher, Sara; Alkhalaf, Majid M.; Alharbi, Mudi H.; Alkhattaf, Najla; Harb, Ziad; Hinai, Eiman Al; Alanqodi, Nahla; Almajed, Sana; Aldwarji, Maryam; Alqaoud, Nawal; Ati, Jalila El; Hoteit, Maha

doi:10.3390/nu14224904

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…In closing, institutions must provide a welcoming and favorable environment for dietitians to practice their profession remotely, with the greatest possible benefits and the fewest possible withdrawals. Moreover, dietitians shouldered new responsibilities in responding to nutrition myths during the pandemic period (7). This is demonstrated by the results of the current study, which found that during the pandemic, there was a marked increase in the number of dietitians who reported responding to nutrition myths on social media.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

“…As for dietitians, "telenutrition, " defined by the American Dietetic Association (ADA), is a subset of telehealth that "involves the interactive use of electronic information and telecommunications technology to implement the nutrition care process (NCP) with remote patients or clients. " (6) In this regard, our earlier survey in five Arab countries found that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Arab hospital dietitian's responsibilities extended beyond the nutrition care setting to include educating the public, answering questions, fostering positive changes in eating habits and teaching them how to do it by disseminating accurate information about nutrition and dispelling myths about it (7). In addition, Arab dietitians developed individualized nutrition plans, offered nutrition support to COVID-19 patients, managed the nutrition-related symptoms of the coronavirus, and prevented the disease's metabolic complications (7), which are typically linked to obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes (8).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(6) In this regard, our earlier survey in five Arab countries found that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Arab hospital dietitian's responsibilities extended beyond the nutrition care setting to include educating the public, answering questions, fostering positive changes in eating habits and teaching them how to do it by disseminating accurate information about nutrition and dispelling myths about it (7). In addition, Arab dietitians developed individualized nutrition plans, offered nutrition support to COVID-19 patients, managed the nutrition-related symptoms of the coronavirus, and prevented the disease's metabolic complications (7), which are typically linked to obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes (8). However, there is currently a lack of data about the perceptions and practices of dietitians concerning the use of social/mass media amid the transition from face-to-face to telenutrition in the Arab region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Perspectives and practices of dietitians with regards to social/mass media use during the transitions from face-to-face to telenutrition in the time of COVID-19: A cross-sectional survey in 10 Arab countries

Bookari¹,

Arrish²,

Alkhalaf³

et al. 2023

Front. Public Health

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, most healthcare professionals switched from face-to-face clinical encounters to telehealth. This study sought to investigate the dietitians’ perceptions and practices toward the use of social/mass media platforms amid the transition from face-to-face to telenutrition in the time of COVID-19. This cross-sectional study involving a convenient sample of 2,542 dietitians (mean age = 31.7 ± 9.5; females: 88.2%) was launched in 10 Arab countries between November 2020 and January 2021. Data were collected using an online self-administrated questionnaire. Study findings showed that dietitians’ reliance on telenutrition increased by 11% during the pandemic, p = 0.001. Furthermore, 63.0% of them reported adopting telenutrition to cover consultation activities. Instagram was the platform that was most frequently used by 51.7% of dietitians. Dietitians shouldered new difficulties in dispelling nutrition myths during the pandemic (58.2% reported doing so vs. 51.4% pre-pandemic, p < 0.001). Compared to the pre-pandemic period, more dietitians perceived the importance of adopting tele nutrition’s clinical and non-clinical services (86.9% vs. 68.0%, p = 0.001), with 76.6% being confident in this practice. In addition, 90.0% of the participants received no support from their work facilities for social media usage. Following the COVID-19 outbreak, the majority of dietitians (80.0%) observed a rise in public interest in nutrition-related topics, particularly those pertaining to healthy eating habits (p = 0.001), healthy recipes (p = 0.001), nutrition and immunity (p = 0.001), and medical nutrition therapies (p = 0.012). Time constraint was the most prevalent barrier to offering telenutrition for nutrition care (32.1%), whereas leveraging a quick and easy information exchange was the most rewarding benefit for 69.3% of the dietitians. In conclusion, to ensure a consistent provision of nutrition care delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic, dietitians working in Arab countries adopted alternative telenutrition approaches through social/mass media.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Perspectives and practices of dietitians with regards to social/mass media use during the transitions from face-to-face to telenutrition in the time of COVID-19: A cross-sectional survey in 10 Arab countries

Bookari¹,

Arrish²,

Alkhalaf³

et al. 2023

Front. Public Health

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Telehealth during and beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Licensed Dietitians in an Emerging Economy

Assaad,

Chamma,

Mateev

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Background: The SARS-Cov-2 pandemic (COVID-19) sudden onset disrupted the direct access to face-to-face nutrition consultation fostering the rapid adoption of Telehealth by dietitians. Objective: This study investigates Telehealth use among Lebanese Licensed Dietitians (LDs) amid COVID-19, in the absence of national Telehealth practical guidelines (TPG), and offers insights on Telehealth application under uncertainties of pandemic event, economic crisis, and destructed infrastructure occurring simultaneously in Lebanon. Design: A cross-sectional study during March 2023, using an anonymous online survey (44 questions), diffused through the Lebanese Order of Dietitians and social media platforms. Participants: The sample (n=94) consisted mostly of females (98.9%) and young dietitians (mean(SD) age: 30.54(6.41) years) having a mean(SD) of 7.89(5.7) years of experience. Most respondents identified clinical nutrition as their primary practice area (87.2%), mostly in weight management (84%). Main outcome measures: Telehealth experience amid COVID-19 including tools utilized in remote consultations, barriers, facilitators, and perspectives of Telehealth use. Statistical analyses: Descriptive analysis (counts, frequencies) using SPSS version 28. Results: Although 48.4% of LDs reported using Telehealth prior COVID-19, this proportion increased to 97.8% during the pandemic. The most common tools used were WhatsApp (90.3%), Zoom (72.0%), and E-mails (41.9%). Reported barriers included bad internet connection (74.2%), patients preferring face-to-face consultation (61.3%), and patients lacking technical literacy (33.3%); benefits included scheduling and time flexibility (83.9%), decrease in practice-related costs (77.4%), and compliance with social distancing measures (53.8%). The majority agreed that Telehealth is needed (78.5%) and applicable in the Lebanese context (64.6%) and expressed the need for Telehealth trainings (78.5%) and TPG for nutrition care (74.2%). Conclusions: This study recognizes increasing use of Telehealth in Lebanon, warranting the development of Telehealth nutrition care infrastructure comprising national regulations and evidence-based practical guidelines to respond to the innovation in the healthcare industry, and to assure Telehealth sustainability in LDs’ routine practice.

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Detecting Melanocortin 1 Receptor Gene’s SNPs by CRISPR/enAsCas12a

Yang

Tao

et al. 2023

Genes

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Beyond its powerful genome-editing capabilities, the CRISPR/Cas system has opened up a new era of molecular diagnostics due to its highly specific base recognition and trans-cleavage activity. However, most CRISPR/Cas detection systems are mainly used to detect nucleic acids of bacteria or viruses, while the application of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) detection is limited. The MC1R SNPs were investigated by CRISPR/enAsCas12a and are not limited to the protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) sequence in vitro. Specifically, we optimized the reaction conditions, which proved that the enAsCas12a has a preference for divalent magnesium ion (Mg2+) and can effectively distinguish the genes with a single base difference in the presence of Mg2+, and the Melanocortin l receptor (MC1R) gene with three kinds of SNP sites (T305C, T363C, and G727A) was quantitatively detected. Since the enAsCas12a is not limited by PAM sequence in vitro, the method shown here can extend this extraordinary CRISPR/enAsCas12a detection system to other SNP targets, thus providing a general SNP detection toolbox.

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A Snapshot of the Experience of Dietitians during the COVID-19 Crisis in Five Arab Countries: Findings from a Regional Cross-Sectional Study

Cited by 3 publications

References 30 publications

Perspectives and practices of dietitians with regards to social/mass media use during the transitions from face-to-face to telenutrition in the time of COVID-19: A cross-sectional survey in 10 Arab countries

Perspectives and practices of dietitians with regards to social/mass media use during the transitions from face-to-face to telenutrition in the time of COVID-19: A cross-sectional survey in 10 Arab countries

Telehealth during and beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Licensed Dietitians in an Emerging Economy

Detecting Melanocortin 1 Receptor Gene’s SNPs by CRISPR/enAsCas12a

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