Survey and analysis of the attitudes towards and knowledge of clinical nutrition and the preference on teaching and examination method among undergraduate nursing students
10.3760/cma.j.cn115822-20240520-00083
- VernacularTitle:护理本科生对临床营养学态度和知识及教学与考核模式的意向调查与分析
- Author:
Fang WANG
1
;
Pengju LIU
Author Information
1. 中国医学科学院 北京协和医院临床营养科，北京 100730
- Keywords:
Nursing students;
Nutrition education;
Nutrition competency;
Nutrition knowledge
- From:
Chinese Journal of Clinical Nutrition
2024;32(4):239-245
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective:To investigate, assess and analyze the attitude and competency in terms of clinical nutrition and intentions of teaching and examination methods, and their basic nutrition knowledge.Methods:A cross-sectional survey was conducted using stratified sampling method among first- to third-year undergraduate nursing students. A questionnaire was designed to cover several domains including attitude towards clinical nutrition, the importance of nurses in clinical nutrition practice, self-confidence in implementing nutrition counseling, knowledge of nutrition, and preference about teaching and examination methods, each of which was categorized into the 5 levels of strongly disagree/very unconfident, disagree/unconfident, unsure, agree/confident, and strongly agree/very confident (i.e., a scale of 1-5). Besides, the nutrition knowledge was examined through multiple choice questions.Results:A total of 262 students completed the survey. 252 (96.2%) students agreed that the nurses should be involved in the planning and promotions of patient healthy lifestyle, acknowledged the importance of nurses in clinical nutrition practice, and were willing to learn. However, there was overall under-recognition of nutrition, with the score of 4.07±0.92 in females and 3.63±0.84 in males ( P=0.017), whereas no significant difference was seen across grades (3.54±0.98, 3.96±0.83 and 3.87±0.60 for Grade 1,2 and 3 students, respectively, P=0.107). Students considered current nutritional training as inadequate and had low self-confidence in implementing patient nutritional education. The test showed overall poor knowledge on nutrition, with a mean score of 12.82/20 and a pass rate of 68.7%. The students in Grade 3 (14.61±2.45) performed better than those in Grade 1 and 2 (11.91±3.26 and 12.38±3.64, P=0.001). Students who have received nutritional training performed better than those who have not (13.32±3.52 vs. 11.28±3.52, P=0.004). However, there was no significant correlation between the test scores and the attitude towards nutrition, self-confidence in nutrition education and the attention to nutrition ( P>0.05). Regarding teaching methods, most students (55.7%) preferred the integrated method of traditional method, clinical case study, and flipped classroom. Conclusions:Undergraduate nursing students recognize the importance of nutrition in healthcare and confirm the significance of nurses in patient nutritional education. Nursing students have a positive attitude towards nutritional learning but have limited recognition of nutrition, low self-confidence in patient nutritional education, and inadequate knowledge. Clinical practice-based teaching methods can be integrated into their curriculum to improve the quality of nutrition programs.
