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Nutritional knowledge of health care professionals working in the eating disorders
Author(s) -
Cordery Helen,
Waller Glenn
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
european eating disorders review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.511
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1099-0968
pISSN - 1072-4133
DOI - 10.1002/erv.688
Subject(s) - eating disorders , health professionals , multidisciplinary approach , medicine , resource (disambiguation) , family medicine , psychiatry , psychology , health care , social science , sociology , economics , economic growth , computer network , computer science
Background Clinicians working in the eating disorders require a good working knowledge of basic nutrition. As different professional groups are trained in this knowledge to different degrees, it is not possible to assume that all clinicians working with the eating disorders have an equivalent knowledge base. The aim of this study is to determine the nutritional knowledge of different groups of professionals working with the eating disorders. Method The participants were 65 clinicians (dietitians, nurses, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists) working with the eating disorders and a group of 23 non‐clinicians. All participants completed a standardised measure of knowledge of nutritional content of a range of foodstuffs, plus a brief form of the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI‐2). Results Dietitians had the highest level of knowledge regarding carbohydrate, protein and fat, but were no different to the other groups in their knowledge of fibre content. The psychiatrists were the next best informed. The clinical psychologists and nurses were no better than the lay group. Levels of knowledge about nutrition were unrelated to most personal characteristics, though there were some links to the clinician's own eating attitudes. Conclusions Given the central role of nutrition in treating the eating disorders, it is clearly important that teams include professionals with nutritional knowledge. These findings indicate that simple experience in the field is not sufficient to ensure such knowledge, and that specialised dietitians are more likely to be able to provide the necessary treatment resource. Therefore, multidisciplinary teams should include specialist dietetic input. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.