Development of Job Description of Nutrition Teacher by the DACUM Method

The purpose of this study is to provide a standard job description for a nutrition teacher placed in primary and secondary schools by analyzing their duties. DACUM is an acronym for 'Developing A CUrriculuM'. It was used by experts to determine the job duties, tasks and task elements to establish the job descriptions of a nutrition teachers through the development of a DACUM chart. An expert panel consisting of 10 nutrition teachers participated in a DACUM workshop and derived nutrition teacher's DACUM chart. A total of 1,550 nutrition teachers across the country were targeted as the survey subjects for validation of the DACUM chart through their perception of the frequency, importance, and difficulty of each item in the job description. A tree structure, criticality analysis, and contents validity index were added for verification. The definition of the nutrition teacher's job and DACUM chart with 5 duties, 28 tasks, and 107 task elements were derived by the DACUM method. The definition of a nutrition teacher was 'A teacher who is responsible for food service management and nutrition education and counseling for health promotion and disease prevention for students in primary and secondary schools'. The validation results of the tree structure were the priorities of the 28 tasks with ranks 1 and 2. Because there was no third priority, it was considered to be a good representation of the tasks of nutrition teachers. The DACUM chart was found to be evenly distributed with relative importances of more than 17 or less than 11 through the criticality analysis. Since the C5-4 (Conduct simulation exercise against food poisoning)'s content validity index was significantly less than the reference value of 0.78, it was not included in the final job description. 5 duties, 28 tasks, 102 task elements were included in the final job description of a nutrition teacher.

Development of Job Standards of Clinical Dietitian for the Clinical Nutrition Therapy to Cancer Patients in Hospitals

The present study was conducted to provide the basis for improvement of clinical nutrition services through development of job standards of clinical dietitian for the clinical nutrition therapy to cancer patients in hospitals. Developing A Curriculum (DACUM) method was used for job analysis and development of job standards for clinical dietitians for cancer care. Based on DACUM analysis, information about duties, tasks, and task elements of clinical dietitians for cancer care was collected. Developed job standards were applied to clinical nutrition care for cancer patients in hospitals for evaluation. Based on DACUM analysis, consultations from professionals, and field application tests, the final job standards were composed of four duties, 18 tasks, and 56 task elements. The duties consisted of nutritional assessment, nutrition diagnosis, nutrition intervention, and nutrition monitoring.evaluation. For cancer nutrition care, 109 work activities were developed. They were composed of 75 basic and 34 recommended work activities. The application of developed job standards for clinical dietitians for cancer care at 10 hospitals showed a performance rate of 72.3%. In conclusion, job standards for clinical dietitians for cancer care developed in this study might be effectively used as guidelines for providing clinical nutrition services for cancer patients in hospitals.

Development of Job Standards for Clinical Dietitians Administering Clinical Nutrition Therapy to Diabetic Patients in Hospitals

This study was conducted to develop job standards for clinical dietitian administering clinical nutrition therapy to diabetic patients in hospitals. Based on DACUM (Developing A Curriculum) analysis of 17 members including clinical dietitians, professors majoring in clinical nutrition and researchers, information on duties, tasks and task elements of clinical dietitians for diabetes care were derived and applied to diabetes mellitus-specific clinical nutrition care in hospitals for evaluation. The final developed job standards for clinical dietitians for diabetes care included four duties, 19 tasks and 56 task elements. The duties consisted of nutrition assessment, nutrition diagnosis, nutrition intervention, and nutrition monitoring . evaluation. For application of diabetes mellitus-specific job standards in clinical nutrition care, 108 work activities were developed and classified into 90 basic and 18 recommended types. Performance rates of standardized jobs were 80.2% at nutrition assessment, 99.6% at nutrition diagnosis, 78.5% at nutrition intervention, and 32.9% at nutrition monitoring . evaluation. These results can be applied as guidelines to implement jobs for diabetes mellitus-specific clinical nutrition services in clinical settings. In addition, they would be useful for education standards in educational institutions for education and training of clinical dietitian.

Analysis and Framing of Dietitian's of Description

This study was conducted as a part of the project developing the standards of national board test for the dietitian's licence. The purpose of this study was to define the job description of dietitians, and to describe the task elements based on the detailed analysis of the dietitians' work. This study team established the research team which was composed of food and nutrition experts, 7 of registered dietitians and 3 of university professors. Draft job description form was made to fully explain the dietitians' task elements, process and sequence by the research team. Final job description form was confirmed after the validity of 576 task elements was reevaluated upon 4 point scale test based on the frequency, importance, and difficulty by 21 field registered dietitian by the study team. It was also confirmed by the university. This form was formated by following DACUM method which analyzed the job description containing duty, task and task elements. It was organized to include every dietitians' work and to describe the every detailed process of work. Duty was defined as the specific and independent work as a dietitian, and was composed of 17 parts, i.e 10 parts in food supply management area and 6 parts in nutritional care service area and self promotion area. Duties were also divided into 99 tasks containing the 576 detailed task elements to describe definite action, steps and decisions. Seventeen parts are following; menu planning, storage and inventory control, food production, meal service, waste management, sanitation, equipment and facility management, human resource management, financial management, nutrition assessment of life cycle, nutritional assessment of several disease, nutritional assessment in specific condition, medical nutrition therapy, nutritional education, public health nutrition and self promotion. If these protocols are properly performed and presented, they can provide the likelihood that dietetics professionals work as a primary contributors in promoting health care and preventing disease nationally.