Impact of nutrition education on nutritional knowledge and intentions towards nutritional counselling in Dutch medical students: an intervention study

Abstract

ObjectiveManagement of diet-related chronic diseases may benefit from improved nutrition education of medical students. This study aims to investigate the effects of a nutrition education course on nutritional knowledge and intentions towards nutritional counselling in Dutch medical students.DesignThis is a pre–post intervention study with a comparison group. Participants completed self-reported questionnaires on nutritional knowledge and intentions towards nutritional counselling.ParticipantsIn total, 118 medical students (64.4% undergraduate, 73.2% women) were recruited from two medical schools in the Netherlands (n=66 intervention group, n=52 comparison group).InterventionThe intervention group completed a 25-hour course in nutritional counselling (the Students Experienced in Lifestyle and Food (SELF) course) in addition to the standard medical curriculum. The comparison group followed the standard medical curriculum.Outcome measuresSelf-reported nutritional knowledge and intentions towards nutritional counselling, including attitude, self-efficacy and social support.ResultsNutritional knowledge (B: 2.42, 95% CI 1.81 to 3.02), attitude in men (B: 0.50, 95% CI 0.13 to 0.87) and self-efficacy (B: 0.78, 95% CI 0.62 to 0.95) significantly increased in the intervention group compared with the comparison group. No significant differences were found for social support (B: 0.20, 95% CI −0.02 to 0.43) and attitude in women (B: 0.08, 95% CI −0.24 to 0.31) between the two groups.ConclusionsThe SELF course increased medical students’ nutritional knowledge and stimulated their intentions towards nutritional counselling. Future research is needed to evaluate the long-term impact of nutrition education interventions on physician practice patterns and patient outcomes.

Exploring culinary medicine as a promising method of nutritional education in medical school: a scoping review

“…Only one study reported the costs of cooking materials, and license for Tulane’s culinary medicine curriculum [ 38 ]. While previous studies have attempted to address this gap in the literature by directly inviting program directors to comment on program costs/funding among other aspects, the majority of directors elected to provide approximate round figures without further cost breakdown, or simply elect to classify program cost as confidential [ 7 ]. Regardless of cost–benefit or cost-effectiveness analyses, lack of reporting for simple expenditures in most interventions makes it challenging to assess whether culinary medicine initiatives can be integrated into existing medical programs as the costs associated with personnel, facilities and equipment/consumables may vary significantly between programs and location.…”

“…Interest in culinary medicine has rapidly increased among many medical schools across the United States and other countries as a potentially low-cost, high impact strategy to equip students with practical nutrition skills that can be employed for nutrition care in clinical settings [ 5 ]. Several pilot culinary medicine programs have occurred [ 5 ] which theorise that culinary medicine initiatives completed in undergraduate medical programs may produce doctors that feel more confident providing nutrition care to their patients [ 6 , 7 ]. These programs have demonstrated significant and positive impact on medical student’s attitudes, knowledge, and competencies with practical, hands-on culinary skills and nutrition knowledge, which ultimately supports their patient counseling [ 8 ].…”

Nutritional Related Knowledge of Cancer Prevention among Primary Health Care Physicians

“…A recent feasibility study published online demonstrated the potential of a 3-hour, online, self-paced nutrition course administered to medical residents to result in a significant and sustained increase in nutrition knowledge and positive attitudes about the role of nutrition in clinical practice (Shafto et al, 20020). In the same context, Self-reported nutritional knowledge and intentions towards nutritional counselling, including attitude, self-efficacy and social support have been increased significantly among physicians after being exposed to a Self-reported nutritional knowledge and intentions towards nutritional counselling, including attitude, selfefficacy and social support (Coppoolse et al, 2020).…”

Effectiveness of Triple Benefit Health Education Intervention on Knowledge, Attitude and Food Security towards Malnutrition among Adolescent Girls in Borno State, Nigeria

“…Unhealthy selection of food, inadequate information on the importance of food and food groups, malnutrition and its consequences and lack of a kitchen garden among adolescents can increase the burden of malnutrition, which can be mitigated through health education intervention. Previous studies have revealed that health education intervention lays a foundation for the improvement of nutritional knowledge and attitudes relevant to healthy living [ 1 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Addressing the root causes of malnutrition requires a common understanding of the problems and the possible solutions therein, health education intervention across all age groups, both in school and out of school, and the political will in terms of governance, implementation and alignment of policies [ 8 ].…”