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This paper aims to examine the effects of professional job experience on the lifestyle and dietary habits of participants who have studied food science and nutrition and acquired a dietitian license. The dietary habits of students of departments of food science and nutrition have been reported. However, no study has compared the dietary habits of graduates with and without actual clinical experience.

In total, 206 participants who graduated from the department of food science and nutrition of a university located in Tokyo between 1975 and 1984 completed a questionnaire on food and nutrient intake and lifestyle habits in 2011.

Total fat and SFA intake adjusted for energy intake or frequency of snack and fast food intake differed among participants with and without experience as dietitians, indicating that dietitian experience influenced the dietary habits of participants for approximately 30 years after graduation. Nutritional knowledge and skills acquired during attendance at a dietitian school are effective in maintaining favorable behavior for a long time. However, nutritional knowledge and skills were enhanced by later professional experience.

The refining effect of clinical experience appears to contribute to the maintenance of daily dietary habits and health. Professional experience can contribute to the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases not only personally but also for other people in terms of public health nutrition or nutritional education.

Within health care, the occupations of catering officer and dietitian stem from the same root – nursing. However, despite this common base, dietitians have recorded working tensions between these two groups. As caterers and dietitians are both responsible for ensuring the provision of nutritionally adequate and appetising food, their successful collaboration is essential to successful patient feeding. A qualitative study was undertaken to account for the values, ideals and beliefs brought to their practice. A small purposive sample of caterers and dietitians were interviewed to elucidate their views on the importance of their chosen occupation to them. The interviews were recorded and verbatim transcripts made. The content was analysed manually using a grounded theory approach, so that key issues emerged from the interviews per se. These themes – qualification, motivation, reality, constraints and perceptions – provide the basis for describing differing value systems underpinning practice, and highlighting significant interprofessional issues for caterers and dietitians.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the existing literature on the relationship between different service attributes and patient satisfaction at outpatient nutrition clinics to propose and test a culture-specific conceptual model interlinking the drivers of patient satisfaction.

Over a 7-week period in Fall 2019 (November 2–December 19), 600 patients from a Lebanese-Middle Eastern hospital (396 females and 204 males) completed an anonymous-designed survey with closed questions (n = 30). Statements were considered to represent specific attributes of nutrition services. In order to measure the existence and degree of significant relationships between different research variables, Pearson correlation coefficients and Fisher's Z test were employed to analyze the collected data, before and while joining the clinic, during and after the appointment. Means of scores and frequencies were calculated.

The results show that the nutrition service attributes with reference to “after the appointment” may improve the patients' satisfaction level more than attributes with reference to “while joining the clinic” and “during the appointment”. Most patients were satisfied with their overall outpatient clinic experience. The patient experience is a direct result of positive interactions with the entire services offered.

The conceptual model sets the foundations for testing and for further research to develop. Moreover, the findings of this study are important for assessing the quality of nutrition service attributes and for reporting on the ability of this service to meet the needs and preferences of patients in the health care sector.

This study attempts to fill the gap in knowledge on nutrition service quality as indicators for overall patient satisfaction, while opening clear research avenues for further studies to follow. It is the basis for the development of clinical practice guidelines and other quality enhancement tools.

This paper aims to examine student exercise physiologists (EPs) and student dietitians’ confidence regarding working with people with severe mental illness (SMI) pre- and post-practicum in a mental health service.

This single-arm, quality improvement project included students completing practicum within a lifestyle programme embedded in mental health services. Student EPs completed 100 h of practicum across 15 weeks as part requirement for their Bachelor of Exercise Physiology degree and student dietitians completed six weeks full-time (40 h/week) for the part requirement of their Master of Nutrition and Dietetics. Students completed the Dietetic Confidence Scale (terminology was adapted for student EPs) pre- and post-practicum.

In total, 27 student EPs and 13 student dietitians completed placement and returned pre- and post-practicum questionnaires. Pre-practicum confidence scores were 90.8 ± 17.1 and 86.9 ± 18.9 out of a possible 140 points for student EPs and student dietitians, respectively. Confidence scores increased substantially post-practicum for both student EPs [mean difference (MD) = 29.3 ± 18.8, p < 0.001, d = 1.56] and dietitian students (MD = 26.1 ± 15.9, p = 0.002, d = 1.64). There were significant improvements in confidence across all domains of the confidence questionnaire for both EPs and dietitian students.

There is a research gap in understanding the confidence levels of student EPs’ and student dietitians’ when working with people with mental illness and the impact that undertaking a practicum in a mental health setting may play. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore student EP and student dietitian confidence in working with people with SMI pre- and post-practicum in a mental health setting.

For the dietitian community health work means promoting health and helping to prevent disease by working with other people in the health and educational fields. The involvement of dietitians in this way came about via a number of different routes. One of the earliest posts of this kind dates from 1949 and was for a Health Education Officer (Nutrition) and the post was associated with a Health Education Department. Towards the end of the 1960's and early '70's, a number of Community Dietitians were appointed. Some of these were employed by the Health Departments and responsible to the County Medical Officers of Health. One or two were employed by Social Services Departments, and were answerable to the Director for Social Services of their local authority. Their advice would be sought primarily by staff of residential homes on matters of catering and in helping to plan new buildings. In some instances, hospital dietitians worked in the community on a voluntary basis, or were encouraged to do so by a community‐oriented hospital physician. Such local initiative and enthusiasm resulted in several official posts being established in this way. With reorganisation of the health service in view, quite a number of Community Health Dietitians were appointed. Their distribution in 1972‐3 can be seen from the map.

This paper's aim is to identify whether community‐level socioeconomic status (SES) predicts: screening test for pre‐diabetes; actual diagnosis of pre‐diabetes; or nutritional counseling.

This is an analysis of 1,348,124 insured adults receiving medical care from Maccabi Healthcare Services (MHS) in 107 MHS clinics throughout Israel. The research population comprised 79 percent of the MHS members over 18 years of age in 2004‐2006. Area level socioeconomic data were drawn from the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics SES index for every geographical area and each MHS clinic in the study was coded from: −1.03 to 2.73 (−1.03 indicating low SES and 2.73+ high SES) according to the SES index for the location. The fasting glucose laboratory test was used for analysis. Pre‐diabetes diagnosis was based on a fasting glucose above 100 mg/dl. Nutritional counseling was defined by dietitian visits in the claims database.

The percentage of insured individuals who underwent blood glucose testing during the study increased with age from 67 percent at ages 18‐45 to 92 percent for age 65 and over. The percentage of individuals diagnosed with pre‐diabetes also increased with age, rising from 4 percent in the younger group to 14 percent in those aged 46‐65 and to 14‐16 percent of 65 and older. The percentage of individuals with pre‐diabetes who visited a dietitian was 16‐27 percent for those under 65 and 14‐17 percent for those over 65 (males and females, respectively). Individuals living in lower socioeconomic areas were less likely to have blood tests. Among tested patients, the prevalence of pre‐diabetes was higher in areas of lower SES and their dietitian visits were less frequent.

In lower SES index areas, there is a need for better identification and treatment of patients.

The paper shows that a proactive approach is needed both to detect pre‐diabetes and to encourage patients to receive nutritional treatment.

In the age of information, where people can have an easy access to knowledge, the ethical and content-based examination of dietitians’ sharing in the social media is an important step in determining what to share in the social media in the future. The purpose of this study was to analyse the content of Instagram shares of dietitians, a profession group that is becoming more and more widespread in Turkey.

Publicly available dietitian Instagram profiles, aiming specifically at those with =500 followers, were included in the study. The hashtag was chosen as #onlinediyet (Turkish for online diet). A total of 1,986 images were identified for analysis. When these images were identified, 883 images were excluded. Thus, overall 1,103 Instagram images were chosen to analyse during a week’s period. Each Instagram image was classified into one of seven categories by authors as food, individual, nutrition information, motivational, miscellaneous, physical activity and recipe. Food and individual groups were also coded into subgroups.

A descriptive analysis of the 1,103 online-diet-related images shared by dietitians showed that 53.5 per cent of the images were in food category. There were no differences between female and male dietitians in terms of categories of shared images (p > 0.05). Dietitians also shared individual images (34.5 per cent) including weight loss follow-up (56.2 per cent), self-portrait (22.0 per cent) and conversation with clients (14.0 per cent) images on Instagram.

The results of this study set a baseline for future studies. Given the rapid growth of this platform in recent years, not only the field of dietetics but also other health-care fields would benefit from clear guidelines about what information can or cannot be shared on social media.

The work of dietitians in community health has been described elsewhere. This short article shows some ways in which dietitians participate in the nutrition education of the public. The dilemma for the district dietitian is to determine priorities in the provision of an integrated nutrition and dietetic service within a National Health Service district.

Isabel Cole‐Hamilton, BSc, SRD, describes ways in which community dietitians are contributing towards nutrition education by providing resources and in‐service training for teachers, as well as going into schools to give talks and organise activities based on food and sensible eating

All dietitians working for the National Health Service within the community are graduates with a state registration in dietetics (SRD). The British Dietetic Association is our professional body.