Learn first, practice second approach to increase health professionals' nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy

Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2020 May;71(3):370-377. doi: 10.1080/09637486.2019.1661977. Epub 2019 Nov 14.

Abstract

Health professionals generally have positive attitudes towards the role of nutrition in medicine, but limited knowledge and low self-efficacy for incorporating it into routine care. To assess the effectiveness of a "learn first, practice second" intervention on the nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy of multidisciplinary health professionals, the present approach consisted of 16 weeks of online education and 2 weeks of cultural immersion in Tuscany, Italy. Data was captured via online surveys at Baseline, Post-education, Post-immersion, and Follow Up. Repeated measures ANOVA with irregular spacing was used, followed by Dunnett's or Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel testing. Results indicate significantly improved participant nutrition knowledge (nonzero correlation p = .0136, means score p = .0075) and self-efficacy (T0-T1 p < .0001, T0-T2 p < .0001, T0-T3 p = .0002), with differences in attitude trending towards significance (p = .0764). Findings from this study suggest that a combination of online education and hands on learning experiences can be beneficial for increasing health professionals' nutrition knowledge, confidence, and potentially attitude.

Keywords: Mediterranean Diet; attitude; experiential learning; nutrition education; self-efficacy.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Attitude of Health Personnel
  • Diet, Mediterranean
  • Feeding Behavior
  • Female
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice*
  • Health Personnel*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Nutritional Physiological Phenomena*
  • Self Efficacy*
  • West Virginia