A university-community model for the integration of nutrition research, practice, and education

Influence of Dietetic Internship Directors' Involvement with Research on the Research Curriculum in Dietetic Internship Programs

“…Experiences that are aligned with competency CRD 1.5 must be meaningful and contribute to learning. The inclusion of intentional and purposeful experiences in research has been shown to have positive benefits for dietetic students (Hays & Peterson, 2003;Peterson, Hays-Kimmons, & Cole, 2008;Rebovich, Wodarski, Hurley, Rasor-Greenhalgh, & Stombaugh, 1994;Steiber & Barkoukis, 2006;Whelan, Thomas, & Madden, 2007b). On the other hand, the omission of these purposeful and meaningful experiences might make it seem like learning is occurring when it is not.…”

“…Additionally, experiential learning can be used to help fulfill a community need (Simons et al, 2012). One dietetic program found that by utilizing a universitycommunity model for research projects, both students and the community benefited from the experience, as the students were able to conduct research in a real life setting and the members of the community facility received several weeks of free nutrition services that would not have been provided otherwise (Rebovich et al, 1994). Further, dietetic students in the United Kingdom who worked with community collaborators on a research project reported a statistically significant (p ≤ 0.02) greater involvement in all areas of a research project, except for developing a hypothesis than dietetic students who only worked with a faculty member (Whelan et al, 2007b).…”