Open Research Newcastle
Browse

Shifting the narrative and practice of assessing professionalism in dietetics education: an Australasian qualitative study

Download (1.6 MB)
journal contribution
posted on 2025-05-09, 03:11 authored by Janeane Dart, Charlotte ReesCharlotte Rees, Susan Ash, Louise McCall, Claire Palermo
Aim: We aimed to explore current approaches to assessing professionalism in dietetics education in Australia and New Zealand, and asked the questions what is working well and what needs to improve? Method: We employed a qualitative interpretive approach and conducted interviews with academic and practitioner (workplace-based) educators (total sample n = 78) with a key stake in dietetics education across Australia and New Zealand. Data were analysed using team-based, framework analysis. Results: Our findings suggest significant shifts in dietetics education in the area of professionalism assessment. Professionalism assessment is embedded in formal curricula of dietetics programs and is occurring in university and placement settings. In particular, advances have been demonstrated in those programs assessing professionalism as part of the programmatic assessment. Progress has been enabled by philosophical and curricula shifts; clearer articulation and shared understandings of professionalism standards; enhanced learner agency and reduced power distance; early identification and intervention of professionalism lapses; and increased confidence and capabilities of educators. Conclusions: These findings suggest there have been considerable advances in professionalism assessment in recent years with shifts in practice in approaching professionalism through a more interpretivist lens, holistically and more student-centred. Professionalism assessment in dietetics education is a shared responsibility and requires further development and transformation to more fully embed and strengthen curricula approaches across programs. Further work should investigate strategies to build safer learning cultures and capacity for professionalism conversations and in strengthening approaches to remediation.

History

Journal title

Nutrition and Dietetics

Volume

80

Issue

3

Pagination

240-252

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Language

  • en, English

College/Research Centre

College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing

School

School of Health Sciences

Rights statement

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. © 2023 The Authors. Nutrition & Dietetics published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Dietitians Australia.

Usage metrics

    Publications

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC