Mojtaba Khadem Al-Hosseini; Mostafa Lotfi; Farzaneh Mohammadi; Gordon A Ferns; Marzieh Akbarzadeh
Abstract
Background: Today, the use of social media for health care advice has become more popular. The present study aimed to evaluate the opinions of Iranian dietitians on virtual nutritional counseling on the Instagram platform.Methods: The present descriptive, cross-sectional study enrolled Iranian dietitians ...
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Background: Today, the use of social media for health care advice has become more popular. The present study aimed to evaluate the opinions of Iranian dietitians on virtual nutritional counseling on the Instagram platform.Methods: The present descriptive, cross-sectional study enrolled Iranian dietitians working in the field of nutrition counseling using Instagram. The link to an online questionnaire including questions on their activity in virtual counseling on Instagram and the challenges of virtual counseling was sent to the 131 participants. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze and interpret the data.Results: Out of 163 dietitians, 131 participated in the study. 47.3% started virtual counseling during COVID-19, and 35.2% had more virtual clients. 58.8% preferred face-to-face counseling for concept transfer, and 43.5% found it more effective. Text and voice messaging were the most practical methods for virtual counseling, with weight loss being the most common topic.Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual nutritional counseling became more widespread. However, it is believed that face-to-face counseling is more effective in conveying concepts. For virtual platforms, text messaging is the most practical method for nutrition counseling, followed by voice messaging. It has been observed that the elderly have been the least likely people to seek virtual nutrition counseling, while weight loss counseling has been the most frequently requested topic.
Afsane Ahmadi; Nasrin Nasimi; Farnoosh Fakoorziba; Javad Rasooli
Volume 4, Issue 2 , April 2016, , Pages 70-75
Abstract
Background: Due to the increasing global use of nutritional supplements, dietitians play a key role in raising consumer awareness and reducing supplementary side effects. Hence, determination of the states of knowledge, attitudes and practices of this group as to common dietary supplements is important. Methods: ...
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Background: Due to the increasing global use of nutritional supplements, dietitians play a key role in raising consumer awareness and reducing supplementary side effects. Hence, determination of the states of knowledge, attitudes and practices of this group as to common dietary supplements is important. Methods: A list of all the dietitians employed in the health centers, nutrition clinics and private offices of Shiraz city was prepared; then, all the 36 qualified dietitians were referred to and the information of 25 dietitians was collected. To gather the data, we employed a 4-part questionnaire including demographic data and questions related to their knowledge, attitudes, and practices about prescribed dietary supplements. The knowledge scores of less than 50%, 50-75%, and over 75% were considered as low, medium, and good knowledge, respectively. And the classification of attitudes was determined based on quartile ranking. The data were statistically analyzed through SPSS, version19, using Chi-square and t-test statistical methods. Results: Most of the dietitians had moderate (80%) and low (20%) level of knowledge, while 100% of them had a positive attitude (3rd quartile) about the role of dietary supplements in health, side effects, and food interactions. The most common supplements recommended were those for anemia and growth of children. In this study, the dietitians who had higher level of knowledge significantly used nutritional journals to increase their awareness. Conclusion: Considering the key roles of dietitians and their knowledge, attitudes, and practices in the field of supplements and the results of the study, it appears that necessary measures should be taken to enhance the dietitians’ knowledge.
