Future Doctors’ Nutrition-Related Knowledge, Attitudes and Self-Efficacy Regarding Nutrition Care in the General Practice Setting: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Abstract

Background Doctors are in a good position to provide nutrition advice to patients. However, doctors and medical students find their nutrition education to be inadequate. We evaluated nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy in a sample of future doctors. Furthermore, we investigated the association between nutrition-related knowledge, attitude and self-efficacy. We also compared nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy with level of clinical training. Methods Following a cross-sectional design, the nutritionrelated knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy of 207 undergraduate clinical-level medical students (referred to as future doctors) was measured using a questionnaire. Items of the questionnaire were derived from previously validated survey instruments. Descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation was used to describe the data. Results Future doctors had a mean knowledge score of 64%. Their mean knowledge scores in the nutrition topics assessed were 41% for 'malnutrition in children', 59% for 'diabetes and obesity' and 73% for 'nutrients, energy and their deficiencies'. Future doctors' attitudes towards nutrition care were generally positive but were uncertain in the effectiveness of health education in changing the lifestyle of patients. They felt inadequate in their self-efficacy to provide nutrition care. Attitudes towards nutrition care correlated (r = 0.371, p < 0.001) positively with self-efficacy to provide nutrition care. Level of clinical training was associated to nutrition-related knowledge of the students. Conclusion Future doctors had positive attitudes towards nutrition care but showed important knowledge gaps and also felt inadequate in their confidence to provide nutrition care. Attitudes may be important in nutrition care self-efficacy.

Nutrition Care Practices, Barriers, Competencies and Education in Nutrition: a Survey Among Ghanaian Medical Doctors

“…The survey instrument consisted mostly of closed ended items with a few open ended. The items were adapted from previous surveys conducted among doctors [24,28,31] and medical students [13,32]. The items measured the following variables.…”

“…In the pursuit of optimal health, doctors are important players who are best positioned to encourage individuals to adopt healthy lifestyles, such as optimal dietary intake and physical activity. However, many medical doctors are unable to effectively provide nutrition counselling due to inadequate training, resulting in inadequate knowledge, skills and low confidence to provide nutrition care [9][10][11][12][13][14]. These may stem from factors, such as low priority given to nutrition education during medical school, inadequate faculty to provide nutrition training, resistance to the addition of new courses or lectures in nutrition, with a curriculum emphasising on disease treatment rather than disease prevention [15][16][17][18][19][20][21].…”

“…The evidence regarding this subject matter is limited in sub-saharan Africa. In our search of the literature, we found only two studies from sub-saharan Africa, which reported on medical students' views and perceptions of their nutrition education [13,14] but not those of medical doctors. It is not usually possible to translate these findings to the context of sub-Saharan Africa that is characterised by poor healthcare systems, nutrition transition and urbanisation.…”

The science and art of dietetics: Why science needs to underpin our practice

“…This situation is perhaps further exacerbated with health professionals at the face of delivering health care who could provide basic nutrition knowledge but receive poor nutrition training, which denies them the foundational understanding that nutrition is a science. 18,19 The 'art of dietetics' should be more widely viewed as, perhaps, how dietitians communicate that nutrition is a science when advocating their message to improve the health of future generations. This highlights the importance for dietitians to have scientific literacy so that they understand the research process, including the strengths and limitations of different methodologies.…”

“…This phenomenon continues to be fuelled by ‘hash‐tag pop science’ terms such as ‘clean eating’, ‘detoxing’, ‘freedom’, ‘natural’ and ‘superfood’. This situation is perhaps further exacerbated with health professionals at the face of delivering health care who could provide basic nutrition knowledge but receive poor nutrition training, which denies them the foundational understanding that nutrition is a science …”