Setting priorities for research in medical nutrition education: An international approach

View/ Open
File version
Version of Record (VoR)
Author(s)
Ball, Lauren
Barnes, Katelyn
Laur, Celia
Crowley, Jennifer
Ray, Sumantra
Year published
2016
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Objectives: To identify the research priorities for
medical nutrition education worldwide.
Design: A 5-step stakeholder engagement process
based on methodological guidelines for identifying
research priorities in health.
Participants: 277 individuals were identified as
representatives for 30 different stakeholder
organisations across 86 countries. The stakeholder
organisations represented the views of medical
educators, medical students, doctors, patients and
researchers in medical education.
Interventions: Each stakeholder representative was
asked to provide up to three research questions that
should be deemed as a priority ...
View more >Objectives: To identify the research priorities for medical nutrition education worldwide. Design: A 5-step stakeholder engagement process based on methodological guidelines for identifying research priorities in health. Participants: 277 individuals were identified as representatives for 30 different stakeholder organisations across 86 countries. The stakeholder organisations represented the views of medical educators, medical students, doctors, patients and researchers in medical education. Interventions: Each stakeholder representative was asked to provide up to three research questions that should be deemed as a priority for medical nutrition education. Main outcome measures: Research questions were critically appraised for answerability, sustainability, effectiveness, potential for translation and potential to impact on disease burden. A blinded scoring system was used to rank the appraised questions, with higher scores indicating higher priority (range of scores possible 36–108). Results: 37 submissions were received, of which 25 were unique research questions. Submitted questions received a range of scores from 62 to 106 points. The highest scoring questions focused on (1) increasing the confidence of medical students and doctors in providing nutrition care to patients, (2) clarifying the essential nutrition skills doctors should acquire, (3) understanding the effectiveness of doctors at influencing dietary behaviours and (4) improving medical students’ attitudes towards the importance of nutrition. Conclusions: These research questions can be used to ensure future projects in medical nutrition education directly align with the needs and preferences of research stakeholders. Funders should consider these priorities in their commissioning of research.
View less >
View more >Objectives: To identify the research priorities for medical nutrition education worldwide. Design: A 5-step stakeholder engagement process based on methodological guidelines for identifying research priorities in health. Participants: 277 individuals were identified as representatives for 30 different stakeholder organisations across 86 countries. The stakeholder organisations represented the views of medical educators, medical students, doctors, patients and researchers in medical education. Interventions: Each stakeholder representative was asked to provide up to three research questions that should be deemed as a priority for medical nutrition education. Main outcome measures: Research questions were critically appraised for answerability, sustainability, effectiveness, potential for translation and potential to impact on disease burden. A blinded scoring system was used to rank the appraised questions, with higher scores indicating higher priority (range of scores possible 36–108). Results: 37 submissions were received, of which 25 were unique research questions. Submitted questions received a range of scores from 62 to 106 points. The highest scoring questions focused on (1) increasing the confidence of medical students and doctors in providing nutrition care to patients, (2) clarifying the essential nutrition skills doctors should acquire, (3) understanding the effectiveness of doctors at influencing dietary behaviours and (4) improving medical students’ attitudes towards the importance of nutrition. Conclusions: These research questions can be used to ensure future projects in medical nutrition education directly align with the needs and preferences of research stakeholders. Funders should consider these priorities in their commissioning of research.
View less >
Journal Title
BMJ Open
Volume
6
Issue
12
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2016This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Subject
Clinical sciences
Health services and systems
Public health
Other health sciences