[In Press] Oral health knowledge, attitudes and practices of dietitians in Australia : a national survey

Tiffany Patterson-Norrie, Lucie Ramjan, Mariana S. Sousa, Shwetha Kezhekkekara, Ajesh George

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Aim: Dietitians are a well-placed profession to be providing pre-emptive oral health promotion. Despite recommendations that oral health promotion should be routinely part of dietetic practice, there is limited data informing the current practices of clinical dietitians in this area across Australia. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge and practices of Australian dietitians and oral health promotion. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was undertaken involving registered clinical dietitians in Australia using purposive and snowballing sampling (social media/dietetic organisations/public databases). Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: A total of 149 dietitians participated in the national survey. Overall, dietitians were knowledgeable about oral health risk factors and preventative measures across general health domains. Majority of dietitians agreed that oral health can affect nutrition interventions (95.5%) and dietitians should be discussing oral health (88.0%). However, nearly half were not confident in providing counselling or education and felt that undergraduate training for oral health promotion was inadequate (78.2%). A small proportion (6.0%) of dietitians were already providing oral health promotion regularly. Key barriers included a lack of clear guidelines for practice, limited training opportunities and indistinct referral pathways. Conclusion: Dietitians have acknowledged that oral health promotion should be incorporated into their practice. However, they are challenged by a lack of resources and training to support this in clinical practice. So What?: Capacity building dietitians to promote oral health allows opportunity for improvement in the oral health, nutritional status and quality of life of priority population groups.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages11
JournalHealth Promotion Journal of Australia
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2024

Open Access - Access Right Statement

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2024 The Authors. Health Promotion Journal of Australia published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australian Health Promotion Association.

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