Factors Influencing Entrepreneurial Dietitians in the Use of the Computer as a Professional Tool

The use of smartphone health apps and other mobile health (mHealth) technologies in dietetic practice: a three country study

“…App use in patient care was associated with recommending apps to patients, personal use of health apps and the setting of dietetic practice (with dietitians in private practice being more likely to use apps compared to those in the hospital inpatient setting) but not associated with dietitian age, sex and length of practice. Our findings are consistent with earlier studies investigating the factors that influence entrepreneurial dietitians' use of computers as a professional tool (32) . Taken together, the results suggest that familiarity with apps and the presence of supportive environments are enablers of app use.…”

Meeting the needs of US dietitians for food composition data

“…Even when computer technology is available, however, RDs may not be using them for dietetic purposes. Among US entrepreneurial RDs, a 1999 study indicated they use the computer primarily for word processing and financial record keeping and less often for dietary counseling and assessment (Johnson et al, 1999). In 2005, only a few of the 25% of Oklahoma RDs with personal digital assistants (PDAs) were using them for dietetic purposes (Turner et al, 2005).…”

“…Concerns expressed by entrepreneurial RDs included fear of losing data, the time to enter information reduces time available to interact with client, and software is too expensive and difficult to use (Johnson et al, 1999). One nutrition consultant (Aronson, 2007) suggests that RDs have been slow to adopt online counseling software for reasons such as resistance to changing their counseling paradigm, comfort with their current system, fear of the unknown or failure, and not having a clear understanding of the risks and benefits.…”

“…Although a wealth of information on food composition exists, RDs may not know where to quickly find information and what data are currently available (Johnson et al, 1999), especially because there is no one clearinghouse for all food composition information. Some practical suggestions are to search the WWW and Pubmed for information, query colleagues via listservs, and contact food composition experts.…”

“…With the increasing variety of databases and software available, RDs must reconcile advantages and disadvantages among different programs or databases (Hoover, 1983;Lee et al, 1995;Snetselaar et al, 1995) and guide clients as well as themselves in selecting and using software (Connors, 2006). Although a variety of articles have described considerations for selecting food composition software and databases (Anonymous, 2000;Buzzard et al, 1991;Frank and Pelican, 1986;Hoover and Pelican, 1984;Probst and Tapsell, 2005;Stumbo, this issue;Vozenilek, 1999), RDs may still be uncomfortable making purchasing decisions (Johnson et al, 1999).…”