Preparedness of medical students to provide nutrition care following a nutrition education intervention.

BACKGROUND: Globally, 71% of deaths are due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) of which 77% of these deaths occur in low-and-middle income countries. Nutrition is an important contributor to the occurrence, progression and management NCDs. Health care professionals' promotion of the adoption of healthy dietary habits among individuals has been shown to reduce the occurrence of NCDs. We assessed the effects of a nutrition education intervention on medical students' self-perceived preparedness to provide nutrition care. METHODS: We administered a pre, post and four-weeks follow-up questionnaire to second year medical students who participated in a nutrition education intervention that adapted varied teaching and learning activities. Outcomes were self-perceived preparedness, relevance of nutrition education and perceived need for further training in nutrition. Repeated measures and Friedman tests were used to assess differences in mean scores across pre, post and 4-weeks follow up assessment based on p < 0.5 at 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: The proportion of participants who felt prepared to provide nutrition care increased significantly (p = 0.001) from 38% (n = 35) at baseline to 65.2% (n = 60) immediately post-intervention and to 63.2% (n = 54) at 4-weeks follow-up. At baseline, 74.2% (n = 69) of the students perceived nutrition education to be relevant to their future career as medical doctors which increased to 85% (n = 78) immediately after the intervention (p = 0.026) and to 76% (n = 70) 4-weeks follow-up. The proportion of participants who reportedly said they will benefit from further training in nutrition increased from 63.8% (n = 58) at pre-intervention to 74.0% (n = 68) at post-intervention (p = 0.016). CONCLUSION: An innovative, multiple-strategy nutrition education intervention can improve medical students' self-perceived preparedness to provide nutrition care.

A scoping review of nutrition education interventions to improve competencies, lifestyle and dietary habits of medical students and residents.

We reviewed the available research and gave an overview of the effects of nutrition education interventions (NEIs) on medical students' and residents' knowledge of nutrition, attitudes towards nutrition care, self-efficacy, dietary practices and readiness to offer nutrition care. From 28 May through 29 June 2021, we searched Google Scholar, PubMed, ProQuest, Cochrane and ProQuest to retrieve 1807 articles. After conducting de-duplication and applying the eligibility criteria and reviewing the title and abstract, 23 papers were included. The data were descriptively and narratively synthesised, and the results were displayed as frequencies, tables and figures. Twenty-one interventions were designed to increase participants' knowledge of nutrition-related topics, and eighteen studies found that nutrition knowledge had significantly improved post-intervention. Only four of the eleven studies that reported on attitudes about nutrition post-intervention showed a meaningful improvement. The self-efficacy of participants was examined in more than half of the included studies (n 13, 56⋅5 %), and eleven of these studies found a significant increase in the participants' level of self-efficacy to offer nutrition care post-intervention. At the post-intervention point, seven interventions found that dietary and lifestyle habits had significantly improved. The review demonstrated the potential of NEIs to enhance participants' dietary habits and nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy. Reduced nutrition knowledge, attitude and self-efficacy scores during the follow-up, point to the need for more opportunities for medical students and residents to learn about nutrition after the intervention.

Nutrition education intervention improves medical students' dietary habits and their competency and self-efficacy in providing nutrition care: A pre, post and follow-up quasi-experimental study.

Objective: Most doctors and medical students report inadequate competencies in nutrition care. We evaluated the impact of a nutrition education intervention on medical students' lifestyle habits, dietary diversity, nutrition care knowledge, attitude toward nutrition care, and their level of self-efficacy in the provision of nutrition care. Methods: All 2nd-year medical students were enrolled into a 5 week, 24-h nutrition education intervention that involved both deductive and practical sessions. Pre-, post and 4 weeks follow-up assessments were conducted. Results: At post- and 4-weeks post-intervention the number of days participants consumed vegetables and engaged in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity significantly (p = 0.003 and 0.002) improved respectively from baseline. Mean nutrition care knowledge scores of participants increased by 3.27 points (95% Cl: 1.98-4.56, p < 0.001) from 19.49 at baseline through to 24.78 post- and 22.76 4 weeks follow-up. No significant [ X ( 2 ) 2 = 1.568, p = 0.457] change in mean attitude toward nutrition care score was recorded. Mean level of self-efficacy in the provision of nutrition care improved significantly by 1.73 (95% Cl: 1.17-2.28, p < 0.001) at post-intervention and 4 weeks follow-up compared to the baseline scores. Conclusion: The intervention improved the nutrition care knowledge, self-efficacy in the provision of nutrition care as well as medical students' own consumption of vegetables, dietary diversity and their engagement in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. However, continuous implementation of nutrition education interventions is needed to sustain these outcomes and further improve the nutrition education experience of medical students.