Understanding how healthcare providers build consumer trust in the Australian food system: A qualitative study

Abstract

AimThis study aimed to identify how dietitians and other healthcare providers work to build trust in food systems in the course of providing dietary education.MethodsQualitative semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 15 purposefully sampled dietitians (n = 5), general practitioners (n = 5), and complementary and alternative medicine practitioners (n = 5) within metropolitan South Australia. Interview data were then interpreted using an inductive thematic analysis approach, involving the construction of themes representing trust‐enhancing roles around which beliefs about professional roles, the ‘patient’, and food and health were clustered.ResultsHealthcare providers communicate beliefs regarding (dis)trust in food systems through: (i) responding to patient queries and concerns following a food incident or scare; (ii) helping patients to identify (un)trustworthy elements of food supply systems; and (iii) encouraging consumption of locally produced and minimally processed food. Importantly, the expression of these roles differed according to participant beliefs about food and health (medico‐scientific versus alternative medicine) and their adoption of professional projects that sought to promote medico‐scientific ways of thinking about health and diet or manage the failures of Western medicine.ConclusionThe development and consolidation of trust‐enhancing roles amongst healthcare providers likely requires disciplinary reflection on professional values and the processes by which practitioners apply these values to understanding food systems.

Role of food in our teaching and practice

“…One paper in this issue explores consumer trust and highlights the interaction between the Australian health and food systems and professionals working in this space. 4 Importantly, this paper underscores the need for healthcare providers to understand their personal stance on food and health, and how their professional role may influence their perspective and values, and therefore their messaging about food systems. It stresses the need for all individuals to have trust, including health professionals, to build greater belief and participation in food systems.…”

“…To do this, we need to understand the complex interrelationships between each part of the system, with provision of food for health at the system's core. The articles included in this issue of Nutrition & Dietetics sit across multiple parts of the food system, some that highlight the need for nutritionists and dietitians to have an intimate understanding of food, its role in health and barriers to achieving food and nutrition-related goals, [2][3][4][5][6][7] and others that are at the clinical end of practice. [8][9][10] In its simplest form a food system includes production, processing, consumption, and waste management.…”