Preparing Health Professional Students to Counsel and Advise on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Wellness:Determining Education Gaps and Needs
Primary knowledge and skills of health professionals to counsel patients in nutrition,physical activity and wellness have been identified as inconsistent or lacking by decision makers and health professionals within Alberta Health Services,Alberta,Canada As knowledge and skills link to education programs,questions were raised regarding what health professional students received in their programs on nutrition,physical activity and wellness.This resulted in a joint Alberta Health Services (AHS) and University of Alberta Health Sciences project to understand what content was presented in health professional education programs at the University of Alberta and to explore strategies to address the identified inconsistencies in knowledge,skills and attitudes of health professional students and practitioners regarding nutrition,physical activity and wellness.The primary task of the study was to identify any gaps and needs for students within 10 major University of Alberta health professional programs and AHS,from which strategies could be proposed.Mixed methods were used for the needs and gaps assessment,including surveys and interviews with students and faculty of the universitys 10 health professional programs and with directors/managers in relevant AHS programs.Quantitative and qualitative analyses identified gaps in nutrition,physical activity and wellness education across the health sciences faculties.The majority of students and faculty across the health professional programs indicated a need for more knowledge and skills including counseling and behavioral/lifestyle modification.Their preferred educational strategy was integrating nutrition,physical activity and wellness knowledge and skills,including counseling,across all years of each health profession program.
Health Profession Students Health Sciences Curriculum Gaps Nutrition/Physical Activity/Wellness Education Behavioral Counseling Education Content Integration
Katharina Kovacs Burns Leah Gramlich
Heatth Sciences Council, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
国际会议
Conference on Creative Education (创新教育国际学术会议(CCE2012))
上海
英文
564-568
2012-04-01（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）