Most dietitians assume they know how to teach and educate because they are content experts.
Most also assume that the process of teaching is equated with techniques, skills, and methods. Teaching
techniques and skills are important; however, they do not represent the entire educational process.
Educational beliefs are paramount and shape what dietitians say, do, and how they interact with their
clients. Currently, only limited conceptual frameworks on teaching and education exist within dietetics.
In this study, the five Educational Perspectives and general model of teaching developed by Pratt
(1998) were used as conceptual frameworks to examine the educational beliefs of dietitians. An equally
important goal was to reveal professional interests, roles and responsibilities, educational backgrounds
and experiences, teaching influences, and international education and work experience - topics which
have not been investigated on a large scale but which provide information on the interests and
characteristics of dietitians. The study was also designed to determine if relationships existed between
personal, professional and social-cultural characteristics and the five Educational Perspectives.
To meet the research goals, a quantitative mail-out survey named the Educational Perspectives of
Registered Dietitians was sent to 483 dietitians throughout British Columbia. Two hundred and forty or
just over half of the total sample frame returned surveys and were analyzed using SPSS. Data from
closed-ended questions were analyzed using frequency tabulations and other univariate statistical
procedures to summarize demographic, work, and professional characteristics. Then correlational
analyses tested for relationships between the educational perspectives and personal, professional and
social-cultural characteristics. Open-ended questions were initially alphabetized using SPSS and were
then thematically analyzed by the researcher.
Results of the survey revealed that the vast majority of respondents were female, most were in
their early thirties to late forties, over half had children, and the large majority were native speakers of
English. A relatively small number of respondents had obtained Bachelor degrees outside of dietetics.
Less than one-quarter of respondents had obtained or were in the process of obtaining graduate degrees,
but a slightly greater number of respondents had either obtained or were in the process of obtaining
certificates or diplomas. Most degrees were science or nutrition oriented and most certificates reflected
either management or clinical specialties. Less than one-quarter of these dietitians had received some
schooling outside of Canada in coursework that was taught mainly in English; a relatively small number
of respondents had worked as dietitians outside of Canada. A small number of respondents had previous
careers prior to dietetics.
Respondents had practiced dietetics for an average of about fourteen years; and less than half
worked full-time. Dietitians interact with many different types of people but the majority work in
traditional health care settings. Over half of respondents are responsible for nutrition counseling and
teaching. The majority of dietitians valued the relationship of nutrition to health, helping others and
working with health care team. At the outset of their careers, most respondents were initially interested in
nutrition counseling and behavior change, health promotion, nutritional sciences and teaching; but over
time respondents became more interested in research, management and food production, cultural food
habits and entrepreneurial activities. The number of their professional interests increased by about a third
over time and the increase was statistically significant. Other people - particularly colleagues, influenced
the majority of dietitians' teaching practices.
In terms of their Educational Perspectives, dietitians were most dominant in Nurturing, followed
closely by Apprenticeship, Transmission, then to a smaller degree Developmental and to a very small
degree, Social Reform. Forty-eight dietitians were dominant in two Educational Perspectives; Nurturing
and Apprenticeship or Apprenticeship and Transmission. When dietitians' Educational Perspective
scores were compared to groups of 414 other professionals, dietitians were less Nurturing and
Developmental oriented, were more Transmission oriented, and slightly less Social Reform. Except for
Apprenticeship, the small differences in scores were statistically significant. Although the difference in
Apprenticeship Perspective scores between the two groups was not significant, they represented the
highest scores for both groups.
There were thirty-five significant correlations between personal and professional variables and
the five Educational Perspectives. Three significant correlations characterized dietitians high on
Transmission: attending school in a country outside of Canada, valuing management opportunities within
dietetics, and feeling that university coursework had influenced their teaching practices. Two significant
correlations characterized dietitians high on Apprenticeship: possessing graduate degrees and feeling that
university coursework had influenced their teaching practices. Eight significant correlations characterized
dietitians high on Developmental: practicing dietetics over a longer period of time, expressing an initial
interest in teaching within dietetics and in managing people and resources, interacting with community
groups, marketing, being involved with public and media relations, and interacting with community
groups and the public.
Another eight significant correlations characterized dietitians high on Nurturing: expressing an
initial interest in teaching, interacting with community groups, being involved with public and media
relations, and feeling that workshops and seminars, authors, colleagues, teachers of education, and authors
on educational topics had influenced their teaching practices. Fourteen significant correlations
characterized dietitians high on Social Reform: speaking languages other than English (initially fluent and
currently speaking languages other than English, and currently speaking more than one language),
practicing dietetics over a longer period of time, expressing an initial interest in cultural food habits,
managing people and food production, expressing a current interest in managing people, interacting with
the general public, community groups, being involved with public and media relations, feeling that
activities or other people influenced teaching practices, and being less responsible for nutrition counseling
and one-to-one interactions with patients.
Although they were offered the opportunity for feedback, less than one-half of respondents
requested that an Educational Perspectives Inventory Profile sheet be mailed back to them. Respondents
who requested a profile sheet were generally no different from the other respondents who did not request
feedback. There were no significant correlations between respondents who requested an educational
profile and the five Educational Perspectives. However, in terms of their work-related characteristics,
people requesting feedback had been attracted by a wider range of potential features of the profession.
It was surprising to discover the degree of importance that dietitians attributed to measurable
behavioral change. Generally, dietitians attributed lack of change as a result of deficiencies in clients
(lack of compliance, interest, or motivation) rather than other factors such as dietitians' approaches or
attitudes about learning and education or challenges associated with the learning contexts. Another
surprise was the extent that dietetic colleagues influence each other's teaching practices.
There are several recommendations from this study: dietitians need to constantly re-examine
undergraduate and internship educational competencies to encourage future dietitians to critically analyze
their roles as educators; formation of an Adult Education Practice Group; member forums on educational
and teaching issues; development of online education discussion groups; and continuing education
activities on the roles of dietitians as educators and teachers.
The five Educational Perspectives and general model of teaching were used as theoretical tools to
help reveal assumptions about dietitians and their learners, content, context, and beliefs about knowledge
and learning. Additionally, information about personal and professional characteristics of dietitians was
obtained which can be used to create a database and monitor trends and interests. Dietitians are health
professionals who work in different settings, interact with different clientele, and who accumulate a
unique body of knowledge based on their education, training, and experience. Although differences exist
among individual dietitians, there is one unifying thread. Dietitians are teachers and educators. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/10687 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Kussat, Tenny Liz |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 11104716 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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