Providing Nutrition Care to Patients with Lifestyle-Related Chronic Disease: Exploring the Role of Australian General Practitioners

Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to explore the role of Australian General Practitioners in providing nutrition care to patients with lifestyle-related chronic disease in the context of a patient-centred primary care system. The thesis incorporates five research studies (two quantitative studies, two qualitative studies and one systematic literature review) whereby each study progressed on the findings of the previous study. Collectively, the five studies highlight an increasing expectation that General Practitioners should provide nutrition care to patients living with lifestyle-related chronic disease. However, the studies found there are variable perceptions about the optimal manner in which General Practitioners should provide nutrition care to patients. As a result, the overall approach of the Australian primary care system, including the role of GPs in providing nutrition care, needs further attention in order to facilitate patient-centred, nutrition-related chronic disease management. Future research should focus on the optimal provision of patient-centred nutrition care to individuals living with lifestyle related chronic disease by developing a model of care that best facilitates patients to improve their nutrition behaviour and subsequent health outcomes after receiving nutrition care in the Australian primary health care setting.