TY - JOUR
T1 - Trends, challenges, opportunities, and future needs of the dietetic workforce
T2 - a systematic scoping review
AU - Blair, Merran
AU - Mitchell, Lana
AU - Palermo, Claire
AU - Gibson, Simone
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Life Sciences Institute. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected].
PY - 2022/5
Y1 - 2022/5
N2 - CONTEXT: Issues related to nutrition and health are prominent, yet it is unclear if the dietetics workforce is being used optimally. OBJECTIVE: Trends, challenges, opportunities, and future needs of the international dietetic workforce are investigated in this review, which was registered with Open Science Framework (10.17605/OSF.IO/DXNWE). DATA SOURCES: Eight academic and 5 grey-literature databases and the Google search engine were searched from 2010 onward according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. Of 2050 articles screened, 184 were eligible for inclusion. DATA EXTRACTION: To chart data, a directed content analysis and a constant comparison technique were used. DATA ANALYSIS: The following 13 themes were identified: 1) emerging or expanding areas of practice; 2) skill development; 3) economic considerations; 4) nutrition informatics; 5) diversity within the workforce; 6) specific areas of practice; 7) further education; 8) intrapersonal factors; 9) perceptions of the profession; 10) protecting the scope of practice; 11) support systems; 12) employment outcomes; and 13) registration or credentialing. CONCLUSIONS: The dietetics profession is aware of the need to expand into diverse areas of employment. Comprehensive workforce data are necessary to facilitate workforce planning.
AB - CONTEXT: Issues related to nutrition and health are prominent, yet it is unclear if the dietetics workforce is being used optimally. OBJECTIVE: Trends, challenges, opportunities, and future needs of the international dietetic workforce are investigated in this review, which was registered with Open Science Framework (10.17605/OSF.IO/DXNWE). DATA SOURCES: Eight academic and 5 grey-literature databases and the Google search engine were searched from 2010 onward according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. Of 2050 articles screened, 184 were eligible for inclusion. DATA EXTRACTION: To chart data, a directed content analysis and a constant comparison technique were used. DATA ANALYSIS: The following 13 themes were identified: 1) emerging or expanding areas of practice; 2) skill development; 3) economic considerations; 4) nutrition informatics; 5) diversity within the workforce; 6) specific areas of practice; 7) further education; 8) intrapersonal factors; 9) perceptions of the profession; 10) protecting the scope of practice; 11) support systems; 12) employment outcomes; and 13) registration or credentialing. CONCLUSIONS: The dietetics profession is aware of the need to expand into diverse areas of employment. Comprehensive workforce data are necessary to facilitate workforce planning.
KW - education
KW - employability
KW - nutrition
KW - qualitative research
KW - workforce development
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128247036&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/nutrit/nuab071
DO - 10.1093/nutrit/nuab071
M3 - Article
C2 - 34532738
AN - SCOPUS:85128247036
SN - 0029-6643
VL - 80
SP - 1027
EP - 1040
JO - Nutrition Reviews
JF - Nutrition Reviews
IS - 5
ER -