Competency development in public health nutrition: reflections of advanced level practitioners in Australia

• Published in: Nutrition & dietetics Vol. 60; no. 3; p. 205
• Main Author: Hughes, Roger
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dietitians Association of Australia 01.09.2003
• Subjects: Australians; Beliefs, opinions and attitudes; Food and nutrition; Health attitudes; Nutrition; Nutritionists; Practice; Public health; Study and teaching; Australia
• ISSN: 1446-6368

Objectives: To investigate the attitudes, experiences and beliefs of advanced level public health nutritionists in Australia in relation to public health nutrition competency development. Design: Qualitative study using semi-structured interviews. Subjects: Forty-one advanced level public health nutritionists employed in academic and senior technocratic positions in state health systems. Setting: Australia. Main outcome measures: Qualitative data on attitudes, experiences and beliefs of advanced level public health nutritionists. Analysis: Audiotaped interview transcripts were content analysed by theme using a pre-determined inquiry logic. Results: Career paths of interviewees were mostly opportunistic rather than planned and reflected individual interests and changing health sector opportunities over the last few decades. Disillusionment with clinical practice was a common motivation for career paths leading to public health nutrition. The most commonly reported landmarks for competency development were exposure to mentors, on-the-job experience and post-graduate training in public health. There was disagreement about the utility of dietetic training in public health nutrition competency development, partly the result of recognition of the post-basic nature of public health nutrition competencies. Most advanced level public health nutritionists, however, identified the existing dietetic workforce as a priority for public health workforce development because of the strong preparation in nutrition and the privileged access to work opportunities dedicated to nutrition that dietitians have. Undergraduate preparation specific to nutrition, experiential learning and post-graduate specialist training were identified as important features of public health nutrition competency development. Conclusions: The data collected represent the views of a large proportion of the public health nutrition leadership group in Australia. Further research investigating workforce composition, competency needs, practices, continuing professional development needs and strategy effectiveness is required. Dietitians, as a professional group, appear well placed to take a leadership role in the scholarship and development of public health nutrition in Australia. Key words: workforce development, public health nutrition, competency development