What do Dietetic students think Professionalism entails?

Debbi Marais* (Corresponding Author), Maritha Marais, Janicke Visser, Catherine Boome, DCM Taylor

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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Abstract

Background. Members of a profession are committed to codes of ethics and professionalism. The aim was to determine which professionalism attributes dietetics students deem important and relevant to their profession.

Methods. A total of 109 dietetics students from two universities in the Western Cape, South Africa, completed a demographic questionnaire and were required to sort a pack of cards containing 90 attributes of professionalism into 11 piles, ranging from ‘least agree’ to ‘most agree’. An element of forced choice was introduced by restricting the number of cards in each of the 11 piles (Q-sort). PQMETHOD 2.11 was used for data analysis, ranking items by their mode score and giving an indication of which items were most consistently favoured.

Results. Professionalism attributes considered most important included Protect confidential information, Trust, Respect patients’ right of shared decision making, Honesty, Good clinical judgment, Communication skills and Carry out professional responsibilities. Interpersonal professionalism attributes were considered more important than intrapersonal or public professionalism.

Conclusion. This study suggests that professionalism attributes are not attained continuously for dietetic students. The findings should form an integral part of dietetic and other health sciences curriculum planning to ensure that the assessment of these attributes is relevant and consistent with development over the years.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)28-33
Number of pages6
JournalAfrican Journal of Health Professions Education
Volume4
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012

Keywords

  • Professionalism
  • medical education
  • dietetics

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