Nutritional care refers to any practice or procedure carried out by health care professionals to enhance the actions and subsequent health outcomes of an individual in relation to food 9. Nutrition care is a significant element in the health care system, which has a vital role in the prevention and management of NCDs that are responsible for higher rates of morbidity and mortality worldwide 7,8. With the current shift in eating patterns towards the western diet and an increase in televised food ads, there is an even greater need to empower people with accurate knowledge and attitudes for choosing appropriate food preferences 6. However, knowledge of nutrition alone may not be sufficient to improve dietary behaviors there is also a need to promote a positive attitude towards healthy eating habits 5. Nutrition knowledge is crucial for encouraging healthy eating habits 4. In developing countries, nutritional involvement in the care process is often ignored, despite a vast deterioration in the multiple burden of, undernutrition, overnutrition, Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and related comorbidities 3. Through different stages of the life cycle, such as preconception, pregnancy, lactation, childhood, adolescence, menopause and old age humans need to give special attention to nutrition 2. Nutrition is a key element of health promotion and contributes to the management and prevention of many diseases specifically, hypertension and diabetes 1. Nutrition Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Nurses and Physicians of Palestinian Hospitals in the Gaza Strip. Keywords:Īttitude Gaza Nurse Nutritional Knowledge Physician Practice It was concluded that nurses and physicians were unable to provide effective nutrition intervention in health care settings and needed to improve their nutritional knowledge, attitudes and practices. Finally, the percentages of good nutrition practices via assessment and counseling were 53.1% for nurses and 52.1% for physicians. The obtained percentages of attitudes among physicians were 47.9% positive, 16.7% neutral, and 35.4% negative. Overall, the obtained percentages of attitude among nurses were 54.2% positive, 22.9% neutral, and 22.9% negative. No statistical differences observed between nurses and physicians regarding attitude scale and practice. The mean score of physicians’ nutrition knowledge was 10.91, which was significantly higher than the nurses ‘nutrition knowledge score of 7.44. About 14.6% of all participants attended more than 4 weeks of training in nutrition however, the majority of this training is intended to deal with healthy subjects.
The average age of all the respondents was 32 years, ranging from 22 - 54 years.
The study used a self-administered questionnaire that includes socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge of nutritional science, attitudes towards the use of nutrition care in clinical sittings, and nutrition practicing and counseling. This is a cross-sectional study where 96 nurses and 48 physicians were recruited. The main objective of this study is to explore the nutritional knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of nurses and physicians who are working at major Palestinian hospitals in Gaza Strip.
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