Implementation and Evaluation of Nutrition Capacity Training Program for Dietitians and Related Professionals Working at Customized Home Visiting Health Services

Article information

Korean J Community Nutr. 2014;19(1):71-83

Publication date (electronic) : 2014 February 28

doi : https://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2014.19.1.71

Sook Bae Kim , Jin Sook Yoon ¹, Kyung Won Kim ²

Department of Food and Nutrition, Research Institute of Human Ecology, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Korea.

¹Department of Food & Nutrition, Keimyung University, Daegu, Korea.

²Department of Food & Nutrition, Seoul Women's University, Seoul, Korea.

Corresponding author: Kyung Won Kim, Department of Food & Nutrition, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul Women's University, 621 Hwarangro, Nowon-gu, Seoul 139-774, Korea. Tel: (02) 970-5647, Fax: (02) 976-4049, kwkim@swu.ac.kr

Received 2014 February 07; Revised 2014 February 17; Accepted 2014 February 17.

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to implement and evaluate a nutrition capacity training program for dietitians and other professionals working at customized home visiting health services (CHVHS). This program focused on nutrition services for hypertension or diabetes mellitus patients including topics regarding CHVHS, and composed of 10 sessions with lectures, discussion and practice. Dietitians (n = 54) and other professionals (n = 20) participated in the program and completed the questionnaire to assess their understanding of nutritional management, nutrition services and CHVHS before and after the program, and to examine program satisfaction and education needs. Subjects were mostly women (98.6%) and college or university graduates (93.2%). Total score (p < 0.001), as well as all items (p < 0.001 or p < 0.01) of understanding regarding nutritional management, nutrition services and CHVHS, were significantly increased after the program both in dietitians and in other professionals. Subjects were generally satisfied with the program, showing more satisfaction with items regarding subject's participation, acquiring new knowledge, usefulness of the program for CHVHS, and education materials. In future nutrition capacity training programs, subjects wanted to have classes regarding nutrition services for specific chronic diseases, development of education materials, methods for dietary life education, modifying eating habits and so on. Other professionals compared to dietitians, showed higher education needs in meal management (p < 0.01) and nutrition counseling skills (p < 0.05). This study showed the effectiveness of a nutrition capacity training program for home-visiting dietitians and other professionals, and suggests the need and direction for future nutrition capacity training programs.

Keywords: dietitians; nutrition capacity training program; evaluation; customized home visiting health services (CHVHS)

Notes

This study was supported by a research grant from Korea Health Promotion Foundation (2012).

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This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Funded by : A research grant from Korea Health Promotion Foundation (2012)

Table 1

Outline of the nutrition capacity training program for professionals working in the customized home visiting health services (CHVHS)

1) Nutrition Plus is the nutrition program for low-income, high-risk, and women (pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women) and children up to 5 years of age. This program provides supplemental nutritious foods, nutrition education, and home visits to the program participants.

Table 2

General characteristics of the study subjects

Table 3

Understanding of nutritional management, nutrition services and customized home visiting health services (CHVHS) before and after nutrition capacity training program

Training program

1) Nurses, social worker and physical therapist

2) Each item was measured using a 4-point scale ranging from 'strongly disagree' (1) to 'strongly agree' (4).

3) Mean ± SD

4) Possible score range: 7 - 28. Higher score indicates better understanding for each item.

^*: p < 0.05, ^**: p < 0.01, ^***: p < 0.001 by paired t-test to test the difference between pretest and posttest

^†: p<0.05, ^††: p<0.01 by t-test to test the difference (posttest - pretest) between dietitians and other professionals

Table 4

Satisfaction of subjects with the nutrition capacity training program

1) Nurses, social worker and physical therapist.

2) Each item was measured using a 4-point scale ranging from 'strongly disagree' (1) to 'strongly agree' (4)

3) Mean ± SD

4) Possible score range: 9-36. Higher score indicates that subjects were more satisfied with the nutrition capacity training program.

^**: p < 0.01 by t-test

Table 5

Rating of Interest in the classes¹⁾ given by the program

1) This was assessed using open-ended questions, and some subjects responded that they liked more than one class.

Table 6

Needs for the nutrition capacity training program of subjects

1) Nurses, social worker and physical therapist

2) Each item was measured using a 5-point scale ranging from 'not necessary at all' (1) to 'necessary very much' (5)

3) Mean ± SD

4) Possible score range: 16 - 80. Higher score indicates the higher needs for the specific topic in a nutrition capacity training program.

^*: p < 0.05, ^**: p < 0.01 by t-test to test the difference between dietitians and other professionals.