| Dietitians' views on the current competency standards for entry level dietitians
Susan Phillips, Susan Ash and Linda Tapsell
Abstract A modified Delphi survey was forwarded to members of the dietetic profession to ascertain the current use and acceptance of the competency standards for entry level dietitians. Members of the profession identified as stakeholders were those involved in A teaching and training dietitians, dietitians in tertiary hospitals, members of the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) committees, members involved in the competency standards development project and members of DAA special interest groups. The competency standards were considered to be a valuable professional document with varied uses including a reference standard for the accreditation of university courses, development of course curricula, student assessment and professional development. The importance of regularly reviewing the competency standards to ensure their ongoing validity was acknowledged. Stakeholders identified dietetic management skills as a potential gap in the existing standards. These included strategic planning, marketing, and performing quality assurance activities. Communication skills and conduct of outcome evaluations also were identified as requiring further attention. The survey also revealed a lack of stakeholder familiarity with the structure, function and terminology of the competency standards and a limited access to the standards. In general, stakeholders also indicated they would like to see further development of competency standards for dietitians to reflect advanced levels of practice and specialist areas. (Aust J Nutr Diet 2000;57:190-197)
Relevance of the competency standards to entry level dietetic practice
Susan Phillips, Susan Ash and Linda Tapsell
Abstract Research involving interviews of new graduate dietitians was conducted to investigate the nature of current dietetic practice, and comparisons were made with the existing competency standards for entry level dietitians. The aim of the interview methodology was to enable core activities and their underlying attributes, that is knowledge, skills and attitudes, to be described. Core activities, such as seeing patients and coordinating individual care, traditionally accepted as part of the dietitian’s role, remain important. However, new graduates also need to be prepared to meet the demands of a variety of new work contexts where the performance of different core activities may be required. These include managing a private practice, managing a nutrition service and performing quality activities. To address these additional work activities the competency standards need to be modified to emphasise skills in management and communication including computer literacy and media skills, outcome evaluation and quality activities. A model is proposed to illustrate how the competency standards could be amended to encompass current practice. (Aust J Nutr Diet 2000:57:198-207)
‘Filling the Gap’ – children aged between two and four years: sources of nutrition information used by families and childcare staff
Kay Gibbons, Veronica Graham, Catherine Marraffa and Lindy Henry
Abstract The objective of this study was to identify sources of, and gaps in, information about children's nutrition used by parents and relevant professionals in Melbourne's western metropolitan region. This paper is one of a series of four and reports findings of the study with respect to children aged between two and four years with the majority attending childcare centres. Parents of 151 children and ten childcare staff in the centres attended by the children completed questionnaires. For five childcare staff this was followed up with an in-depth interview. For parents, the main sources of nutrition information were family and their own knowledge. Childcare staff all provided advice to parents about nutrition information. For the childcare staff, sources of knowledge were newspapers and magazines, and brochures produced by food companies. Both groups named maternal and child health nurses as the professionals from whom they most commonly sought advice. Gaps in nutrition information identified by parents included the areas of food refusal and picky eating, menu planning and information on food additives. Lack of information in community languages was identified by childcare staff and parents as a significant gap. None of the childcare staff had undertaken professional development in nutrition in the previous 12 months. (Aust J Nutr Diet 2000;57:208-214)
What is the role of dietetic support staff? A survey of dietetic managers in New South Wales public hospitals
Scott Riddiford, Boris Gazibarich and Marianna Milosavljevic
Abstract There is an absence of data on dietetic support staff despite the central contribution they make to dietetic services. The present study reports the results of a survey completed by 56 dietetic managers from New South Wales public hospitals with 40 to 890 beds. It examines attitudes and performance in relation to the current and desired roles and organisational structure of dietetic support staff. Managers identified considerable overlap of roles and responsibilities of diet supervisors and diet aides, with no statistical difference found in 17 of the 25 roles they performed. Forty respondents believed that the role of dietetic support staff has changed in the last 10 years, the most commonly cited change being the merging of the two roles. However, only 22 dietetic managers actually favoured restructuring their department to combine diet supervisors and diet aides. Results of this study may facilitate discussion within the Dietitians Association of Australia regarding the future direction for dietetic support staff. (Aust J Nutr Diet 2000;57:215-219)
Dietary guidelines for a new millennium
What do our guidelines do for cancer prevention? Cereals, vegetables (including legumes) and fruit guideline
Ivor E. Dreosti (Aust J Nutr Diet 2000;57:220-221)
Dietary guidelines for a new millennium. Total fat – more or less?
David Sullivan (Aust J Nutr Diet 2000;57:222-224)
Why are we ignoring the salt guideline?
Peter Howe (Aust J Nutr Diet 2000;57:225-226)
Food safety
Paul A. Baumgartner (Aust J Nutr Diet 2000;57:227-228)
Physical activity and health outcomes: epidemiological evidence, national guidelines and public health initiatives
Adrian Baumann, Neville Owen, Eva Leslie (Aust J Nutr Diet 2000;57:229-232)
Insight
The Tasmanian Breastfeeding Support Coalition – a case study for increasing breastfeeding promotion capacity
Roger Hughes and Julie Williams
Abstract Breastfeeding promotion is a public health nutrition priority with established policy mandates at various levels of government. To maximise community involvement and organisational capacity to implement this mandate the Tasmanian Breastfeeding Support Coalition was formed to provide coordinated, multi-disciplinary, multi-strategy, evidence-based and outcomes-based breastfeeding promotion. The coalition development strategy provides an insight into community and organisational development for issue- specific nutrition promotion. Since its inception in 1996, the coalition has planned, implemented and evaluated a diverse range of interventions and is making a significant contribution to state-wide efforts to promote breastfeeding. This paper outlines a mixed method evaluation of the coalition including member review, activity auditing and community participation assessment. The coalition’s development, evolution and activity demonstrates the utility of coalition-building as a public health nutrition strategy with application in other arenas of public health nutrition practice. (Aust J Nutr Diet 2000;57:233-236) |
Australian Journal of Nutrition and Dietetics, Volume 57, Number 4, December 2000