Abstract

Introduction: Child nutrition Pediatric counseling is an important aspect of pediatric care and health professionals are often responsible for doing so. However, there are few studies on the level of knowledge of these professionals and what their training needs are to keep them up to date.

Objective: To provide information on child feeding knowledge and the training needs of pediatricians, pediatric nurses and pharmacists.

Methods: Postal, survey, anonymous, using a self-administered questionnaire of 104items, with four domains: breastfeeding, artificial breastfeeding, complementary feeding and obesity prevention. The questionnaire was distributed to all pharmacists, pediatricians and collegiate pediatric nurses practicing in Cantabria (Spain). Differences between professions were earned through the Kruskal-Wallis test.

Results: The overall participation rate was 73.6%(495/672); 73.6% (368/500) among pharmacists; 68.0% (83/122) among paediatricians and 88.0% (44/50) among nurses. The median percentage of correct responses was 80.4%(IQR 26.2) and the lowest scores were relative to complementary feeding: 66.0%(IQR 27.2). Pediatric pediatricians and nurses scored higher than pharmacists on breastfeeding and complementary feeding (p < .05). Most respondents (98.0%) they had advised on child nutrition during the previous month; 93.0% believed they needed more nutrition training and 81.0% preferred to take online courses.

Conclusions: Professionals show a good knowledge about child nutrition, but there are disparities between the different professions. More continuous training is needed, with special emphasis on complementary feeding.

Keywords: Pediatrics; Nutrition; Feeding Behavior; Food; Continuing Education; Knowledge

References

1. Koletzko B., et al. “Programming research: where are we and where do we go from here?” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 94 (2011): 2036S-2043S.
2. Lanigan J and Singhal A. “Early nutrition and long-term health: a practical approach”. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 4 (2009): 422-429.
3. Bhutta ZA., et al. “What works? Interventions for maternal and child undernutrition and survival”. Lancet9610 (2008): 417-440.
4. Beauchamp GK and Moran M. “Acceptance of sweet and salty tastes in 2-year-old children”. Appetite 4 (1984): 291-305.
5. Maier AS., et al. “Breastfeeding and experience with variety early in weaning increase infants' acceptance of new foods for up to two months”. Clinical Nutrition6 (2008): 849-57.
6. Jimenez Ortega AI., et al. “From infant to child. Feeding in different stages”. Nutrición Hospitalaria 34 (2017): 3-7.
7. Carletti C., et al. “Introduction of Complementary Foods in a Cohort of Infants in Northeast Italy: Do Parents Comply with WHO Recommendations?” Nutrients1 (2017).
8. da Costa SP., et al. “Exposure to texture of foods for 8-month-old infants: Does the size of the pieces matter?” Journal of Texture Studies 6 (2017): 534-540.
9. Arden MA. “Conflicting influences on UK mothers' decisions to introduce solid foods to their infants”. Maternal and Child Nutrition2 (2010): 159-173.
10. Dyson L., et al. “Interventions for promoting the initiation of breastfeeding”. Cochrane Database System Review 2 (2005): CD001688.
11. Britton C., et al. “Support for breastfeeding mothers”. Cochrane Database System Review 1 (2007): CD001141.
12. Golden G. “Why Food matters. Doctors need more training in nutrition if they are to prevent disease”. MinnMed6 (2016): 14-19.
13. Oliver D., et al. “Developing regional nutrition team training across the North-East of England: reporting on the first nutrition team course run by the Northern Nutrition Network”. Clinical Nutrition ESPEN5 (2015): e194.
14. Kris-Etherton PM., et al. “The need to advance nutrition education in the training of health care professionals and recommended research to evaluate implementation and effectiveness”. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 99 (2014): 1153S-1166S.
15. Garrido Elustondo S., et al. “Continuous training in primary care: training needs of its professionals”. Aten Primary6 (2002): 368-373.
16. Gould D., et al. “Training needs analysis: an evaluation framework”. Nursing Standards20 (2004): 33-36.
17. Martinez Ros MT., et al. “Continued primary care training: needs felt by doctors, pediatricians and nurses”. Attenuate Primary2 (1996): 124-126.
18. Olmstead-Schafer M., et al. “Future training needs in public health nutrition: results of a national Delphi survey”. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 3 (1996): 282-283.
19. Asch DA., et al. “Response rates to mail surveys published in medical journals”. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology10 (1997): 1129-1136.
20. Cook JV., et al. “Response rates in postal surveys of healthcare professionals between 1996 and 2005: an observational study”. BMC Health Service Research 9 (2009): 160.
21. Grote V and Theurich M. “Complementary feeding and obesity risk”. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care3 (2014): 273-277.
22. Vitolo MR., et al. “The impact of health workers' training on breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices”. Cadernos de saúde pública 8 (2014): 1695-1707.
23. Lassi ZS., et al. “Impact of education and provision of complementary feeding on growth and morbidity in children less than 2 years of age in developing countries: a systematic review”. BMC Public Health 13 (2013): S13.
24. Alvisi P., et al. “Recommendations on complementary feeding for healthy, full-term infants”. Italian Journal of Pediatrics 41 (2015): 36.
25. Schack-Nielsen L., et al. “Late introduction of complementary feeding, rather than duration of breastfeeding, may protect against adult overweight”. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition3 (2010): 619-627.
26. Sandoval Jurado L., et al. “Breastfeeding, complementary feeding and the risk of childhood obesity”. Attenuate Primary9 (2016): 572-578.
27. Passehl B., et al. “Preventing childhood obesity: establishing healthy lifestyle habits in the preschool years”. Journal of Pediatric Health Care6 (2004): 315-319.
28. Christiana RW., et al. “Pediatrician prescriptions for outdoor physical activity among children: A pilot study”. Preventive Medicine Reports 5 (2017): 100-105.

Citation

Citation: Laura Monje Pardo., et al. “Knowledge and Training Needs on Child Nutrition of Health Workers in the Autonomous Community of Cantabria, Spain".Acta Scientific Nutritional Health 4.10 (2020): 57-65.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Laura Monje Pardo., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.