Learn first, practice second approach to increase health professionals’ nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy

Abstract

Health professionals generally have positive attitudes towards the role of nutrition in medicine, but limited knowledge and low self-efficacy for incorporating it into routine care. To assess the effectiveness of a "learn first, practice second" intervention on the nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy of multidisciplinary health professionals, the present approach consisted of 16 weeks of online education and 2 weeks of cultural immersion in Tuscany, Italy. Data was captured via online surveys at Baseline, Post-education, Post-immersion, and Follow Up. Repeated measures ANOVA with irregular spacing was used, followed by Dunnett's or Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel testing. Results indicate significantly improved participant nutrition knowledge (nonzero correlation <i>p</i> = .0136, means score <i>p</i> = .0075) and self-efficacy (T0-T1 <i>p</i> < .0001, T0-T2 <i>p</i> < .0001, T0-T3 <i>p</i> = .0002), with differences in attitude trending towards significance (<i>p</i> = .0764). Findings from this study suggest that a combination of online education and hands on learning experiences can be beneficial for increasing health professionals' nutrition knowledge, confidence, and potentially attitude.