Survey on the Use of Information and Communication Methods by Dietitians.

Le résumé fourni par la source

This study was conducted to obtain the fundamental resources for developing a new information and education program for nutrition based on the future occupational activities of registered and unregistered dietitians. A survey was conducted on 160 registered and unregistered dietitians who participated in research seminars held in March and June of 2001.97.7% of the respondents indicated that they were interested in the Internet. Although 90.1% owned a personal computer, they were classified as Laggards according to grading of Everett M. Rogers. The respondents were classified as being in the Late Majority with respect to the Internet and E-mail, and in the Early Majority with respect to multimedia-related equipment.The frequency of using a personal computer in the workplace was high at 70 days per 100 days. Both the ownership rate and usage frequency for the Internet were higher in the home than in the workplace, this result being similar to that in the report from the information committee of The Japan Dietetic Association.Personal computers were reported to be frequently used for clerical work and food-service management in the workplace. The rate at which nutrition counseling is performed by using a personal computer was 25.4%, and the rate at which it is performed by using the Internet was 3.6%. Many respondents indicated that the advantages of using a personal computer were “accurate clerical processing ability” and “freedom from clerical processing”. The most frequently indicated responses related to problems associated with the use of personal computers were “time and labor required for data entry”, “inadequate existing software” and “inconvenient unless they can be used by all personnel”.Approximately 40% of those respondents who sought nutrition software requested that such software be easy to use.On the basis of these responses, although the level of personal computer use in the services provided by dietitians is increasing, the introduction of multimedia equipment into the nutrition service workplace is still not adequate. It is therefore believed that it will be necessary for future unregistered and nationally registered dietitians to become more involved in the development of multimedia educational tools for nutrition, and that it is necessary to begin this by developing the ability to make use of such tools through better education on nutrition information.

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